ISLAMABAD: The PTI has opposed the Supreme Court’s plan to appoint retired judges as ad hoc members to clear the huge backlog of cases, and called on the judges to decline the offer.

“CJ Qazi Faez Essa’s [Isa] new ploy to appoint Ad Hoc Judges is nothing but a ploy to ‘fix’ the bench. There is a backlog of 56,000 cases in the Supreme Court. The Ad Hoc judges will not be able to even make a noticeable dent in the backlog. Using the ‘backlog’ is just an excuse. Target is something else,” Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Omar Ayub Khan said in a post on social media site ‘X’.

“The proposed Ad Hoc judges should decline the offer themselves if they want to leave behind a positive legacy. Other­wise, the nation will remember them as ‘rubber stamps’,” the PTI leader said.

Fuel price hike

The PTI has also rejected the surge in petroleum product prices, insisting that the government’s decision will further exacerbate the miseries of inflation-weary and poverty-stricken masses. The party demanded that the government immediately withdraw the hike.

Demands immediate withdrawal of fuel price hike

A PTI spokesperson alleged that the government has proven to be the most anti-people, incompetent, and merciless in the country’s history, as it continues to take every step to make the public’s lives more miserable.

He said the expensive fuel and electricity made people’s lives a hell, besides ruining the previously fast-growing economy.

The spokesperson pointed out that the ‘non-representative’ government has misused fuel and power as key tools for state extortion, rather than taking concrete steps to reform the country’s flawed tax system and boost people’s income and purchasing power. He recalled that when the Imran Khan-led government was ousted through a “regime change conspiracy”, petrol was priced at Rs150 per litre and electricity at Rs17 per unit.

He said that currently petrol is being sold at Rs275 and diesel at Rs284 per litre, which is unacceptable. Meanwhile, the power tariff has ballooned from Rs17 to Rs84 per unit, further exacerbating public miseries.

He lambasted the government for perpetuating back-breaking inflation in the country and reversing all the hard-won gains of the PTI government. He said inflation has witnessed an alarming jump, while the economic growth rate has plummeted from 6pc to below zero.

The PTI spokesperson alle­ged that the government has no solution to curb the soaring inflation and revive the rapidly dwindling economy, except to exploit people, deny them their right to vote, and violate their fundamental rights. He announced that PTI is gearing up for a massive public movement and warned that when people take to the streets, they will not return until they ensure accountability.

Published in Dawn, July 17th, 2024