The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf staged a ‘symbolic hunger strike camp’ outside Parliament in Islamabad after the National Assembly speaker denied them permission to set up a camp inside the august house premises against “injustice” with their party leaders.
“The symbolic hunger strike camp will continue daily from 3pm to 7pm,” PTI Chairman Gohar Ali Khan told reporters on Monday.
Gohar, Asad Qaiser, Ali Muhammad Khan, Falak Naz Chitrali, Sheikh Waqas, and Senator Humayun Mehsud participated in the strike.
This comes amid a crackdown on the PTI leaders. At least 40 members of Imran Khan’s party were arrested during a police raid on its headquarters on Monday, according to Aon Abbas Buppi.
Among them was PTI Information Secretary Raoof Hasan, who has been briefing the media and appearing on shows to speak about the party’s actions and intentions. Earlier in the day, a court sent Hassan to the Federal Investigation Agency custody for two days. The FIR registered against him invoked sections under PECA and contained confessional statements from PTI’s social media office holders.
Lawmakers did not need permission to stage a protest on the premises of the Parliament, said Gohar.
“This is our right, we are parliamentarians, and parliamentarians are entitled to conduct themselves however they want within the premises of the Parliament,” he said, “we can express our opinions [here] however we want.”
He added that the protest conveyed the party’s position against the “injustice, unfairness, and the illegal and unconstitutional things that are happening [to us].”
He added that PTI parliamentarians were staging a sit-in to uphold the law and the constitution, despite having reservations about some “strangers” occupying parliamentary positions.
Leader of Opposition in NA Omar Ayub called for the incumbent government to step down and hold transparent elections. He argued that only free and fair elections can steer the country out of its ongoing crises.
“The Form 47 government is being propped up artificially, and it has become impossible to keep this government afloat,” Ayub said, “due to skyrocketing inflation, the working classes are finding it increasingly difficult to make ends meet.”
Senator Shibli Faraz stated that the PTI has “always fought” for the Constitution and the rule of law and our symbolic hunger strike will continue and spread across the country.
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Former NA speaker Asad Qaiser condemned the “derogatory comments” made by Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz about the judiciary, stating that she should be served a contempt of court notice. He also questioned the legal basis of the recent attack on a PTI office.
Sunni Ittehad Council Chairman Hamid Raza, stated that protest was the party’s democratic and legal right.
MWM leader Allama Raja Abbas echoed similar sentiments, saying: “Our struggle is for the people. We are fighting for the future generations. The youth needs to come out against inflation and unemployment.”
