ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party will kick off a protest movement against soaring inflation and the country's dismal economic situation, PTI leader Chaudhry Fawad Hussain said on Thursday.
Khan, ousted via a parliamentary vote in April, has refused to recognize the government of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and called for snap elections. Sharif has repeatedly rejected his demands and said polls would be held late next year as per schedule.
Khan blames the Sharif-led coalition government for the country's fragile economic situation. He has frequently said the only solution to Pakistan's political and economic instability are free and fair elections. He has threatened to dissolve the Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa assemblies, where his party and its allies are in power, to force the government to hold early elections.
The South Asian nation is already undergoing a financial crunch, with its foreign reserves barely enough to cover one month's worth of imports. Pakistan's talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have been suspended since September at a time when the country's currency is depreciating against the US dollar and when it faces the danger of a balance-of-payment crisis.
"On these matters [inflation and economic issues] the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf is starting a countrywide protest movement from tomorrow," Hussain told reporters.
Hussain said that for the first three weeks of the movement, the party's lawmakers would lead protests in their constituencies. He urged people to partake in PTI's protests.
"After three weeks, God willing, Imran Khan will join this movement and we will once again be on the streets," he said. "Till this government doesn't go home, this [protest] will continue once again."
Hussain said that the PTI would not accept any caretaker government of technocrats. "They will not be able to control the situation," he said. "I want to tell the establishment as well that then, the entire blame will fall on you," Hussain added.
"Do not consider the people of Pakistan as 'lab rats' who must be subjected to experiments frequently," he added.
Earlier today, Thursday, the speaker of the national assembly refused to accept resignations tendered en masse by Khan's PTI party. Speaker of the national assembly, Raja Pervez Ashraf, informed PTI lawmakers he would only accept their resignations from the house after individual verification was done on each case, as opposed to the party’s insistence on resigning en masse, leaving the fate of Khan’s demand for early elections hanging in the balance.
Ashraf said matters related to the PTI resignations would be dealt with as per the constitution and rules of business of the national assembly. In July, the speaker accepted eleven resignations of the party’s lawmakers after which by-elections were conducted on the vacant seats.
The speaker now insists he would accept the remaining resignations only after personal appearances and individual verification of the lawmakers who have resigned from the house.
“Doors are not closed in politics. There should be contact between politicians,” the speaker said, adding that the PTI’s delegation requested him during the meeting to accept the resignations of at least 127 lawmakers in one go.
“The speaker has the responsibility to ensure that the MNAs [PTI lawmakers] are not under any pressure [to resign],” he said.
He also advised the PTI lawmakers to return to the parliament to play their role.
“I expect you to come to the parliament [and] I assure you that as the speaker, I will give you the full opportunity to speak. Parliament is a forum where everyone comes together.”
On the PTI’s demand for early national elections, the speaker said the matter can be discussed only when the lawmakers decided to return to the parliament. “All issues can be discussed in the parliament,” he said.
