ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) Vice Chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Wednesday lashed out at the government for apparently only focusing on filing terrorism cases against PTI Chairman Imran Khan instead of paying attention to the “back-breaking inflation” that has made the lives of people hell.

In a video statement, Mr Qureshi claimed the government was least bothered about the hardships of the people who were neck-deep in multiple crises.

“Look at the situation that they registered FIRs against Imran Khan for his just demand to take legal action against officials. We need to think if any individual or institution is above the law,” he questioned.

The former foreign minister said the “back-breaking price hike” had made the lives of the poverty-stricken masses miserable, as the inflation rate had reached a record 42 per cent and people were unable to pay their electricity bills.

PTI claims 288,000 people have signed up as ‘Imran Tigers’

He went on to say that the government’s apathy towards the masses was evident from the fact that the price of petrol was raised by Rs6 per litre when fuel prices had declined globally. Farmers were reeling from the surge in fuel price, as it was next to impossible for them to pay their tube well bills by purchasing diesel at Rs244 per litre.

Qureshi said the salaried class and all the affectees would have to raise their voices together against the unbridled inflation, adding that various organizations were already in touch with them.

Talking about the upcoming by-polls, the PTI vice chairman said: “As you are well aware that by-elections on three seats are going to be held on Sept 11 and nine seats on Sept 25, I request all my friends to stamp on the bat (the PTI election symbol) to send a clear message to the imported government against the soaring prices, incompetence and mismanagement.”

42,000 ‘Imran Tigers’ in 15 hours

According to the PTI, around 42,000 people had signed up as “Imran Tigers” in 15 hours.

On Tuesday, PTI Chairman Imran Khan had invited the youth to join the “Imran Tigers” team to convey his message of ‘real freedom’ door to door. For this purpose, the party had provided a WhatsApp number and a website for volunteers to register themselves as “Tigers”.

“Till now, 288,000 people have logged in to www.ImranTigers.com provided by PTI. For the first time in the history of Pakistan, such a large number of people were invited by any political party,” a party statement said on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, educationists, writers and artists held a press conference at the National Press Club and condemned the alleged torture on PTI leader Shahbaz Gill in police custody, and urged the chief justice of Pakistan to ensure human rights.

The demonstrators included civil society representative Sarwar Bari, anchorperson Dr Moeed Pirzada, singer Salman Ahmed, Nadia Khattak and others.

Mr Bari called the circumstances prevailing in the country “nothing but state terrorism”. He also said no television channel should be shut down and people should have the right to watch the channels of their choice.

Salman Ahmed said he had also received a notice from the FIA for allegedly spreading fake news through his social media account.

Advocate Ayesha Siddique Khan said unfortunately, people were living in an environment where they couldn’t speak up due to fear.

The speakers demanded legislation to stop torture in police custody and strict punishments for culprits.

Published in Dawn, August 25th, 2022