LAHORE: “Pakistan is going through the worst turmoil since its inception. Both Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Balochistan are burning. Crime and corruption are rampant in all the provinces, more than 40pc of the people of Pakistan are living under the poverty line.”

This was stated by Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf leader Dr Yasmin Rashid in a letter from jail.

“The rich are getting richer while the poor are getting poorer. All sacrifices of our founding fathers have been in vain,” she said.

Mentioning some of the headlines of newspapers the other day, the PTI leader pointed out the states of affairs of the country.

She said that for the last three years, PTI had been facing all sorts of atrocities orchestrated by the establishment and implemented by the ‘Form 47 government’. She added that Imran Khan and his party members had been incarcerated on frivolous and false charges.

“I, along with my colleagues Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Ejaz Chaudhry, Mian Mehmoodur Rasheed, have been incarcerated for the last 23 months at Kot Lakhpat Jail without bail or a conviction. Our workers have been harassed, baton-charged, and tear-gassed, and even killed just for raising voices against these atrocities,” the letter says.

“Every day, there is a new story of state suppression. There are no human rights left in Pakistan. Voices have been muzzled by the Draconian PECA Law. Whatever little power was left in the judiciary has been shackled by the 26th Amendment. PML-N and PPP are fiddling while Pakistan burns. Bilawal Bhutto and Zardari openly support the deep state for personal appeasement and have nullified the sacrifice of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto.”

Ms Rashid said there were not a lot of expectations from the PM-L as it was spawned by Ziaul Haq. Nawaz Sharif, to ensure that his daughter was launched politically, threw whatever he had gained through “Vote Ko Izzat do” down the drain. She urged the people to think urgently and realign themselves to the vision of Quaid-i-Azam for a free and just Pakistan.

“We can only strengthen state institutions when people are permitted to speak, when all political voices are heard without any bias. We must always remember, countries only progress when there is civil supremacy. It is a wake-up call for all of us,” the letter concludes.

Published in Dawn, March 26th, 2025