Imran announces to launch ‘jail bharo’ movement from Feb 22

Imran explained in a video link address on Friday evening that they have finished their preparations and will begin their movement from Lahore before expanding to other major cities and overflowing the country’s jails.

He stated, “We are launching the movement to overcome the public’s fear of going to jail.”

He had previously stated that it was their plan to return loans when the country’s financial situation would permit it, and he had almost admitted that they had willfully violated the terms that they had agreed upon with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for their extended fund program.

He lamented once more the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for failing to announce a date for elections in the Punjab Assembly within 90 days of its dissolution.

He added, “They have been coming up with one excuse after the other that they do not have funds, there is a problem with law and order, state institutions are not complying despite orders from the court,” and that if elections are not held within 90 days, a constitutional crisis would arise.

He stated, “If the judiciary cannot get the Constitution implemented, it shows that rule of law has come to an end.” In other words, “if the judiciary cannot get the Constitution implemented, it shows that rule of law has come to an end.”

Additionally, he introduced a novel term for the government, referring to them as “those who came into power through auction, not election.”

He stated, “Those who come through auction (by horse-trading) don’t have the mandate of the public to run the country.” On the other hand, those who are elected have the public mandate to do so.

Imran mentioned that almost every commodity, including gas and electricity, has seen price increases since the “imported government” took control.

He stated that although we were under the IMF for two and a half years, we would repay our loans once our income increased.

He stated, “They [the incumbent government] agreed to everything that the IMF was asking for,” adding that our incomes have decreased to the point where we are unable to repay our loans.

Any investor considering investing in Pakistan would consider whether their investment would be safe. Would decisions be enforced by the courts, he added?

Imran asserted that individuals who store their dollars in Pakistani banks cannot access them. The social contract is being broken here.

Who is going to invest in Pakistan now? Pakistanis from abroad who have invested in Pakistan are withdrawing their funds.

He continued by asserting that the government was unwilling to hold elections within the 90-day deadline stipulated by the Constitution.

They want to put off the polls for so long that they will give us any time we need to run for office.

This is what they did during the second phase of Sindh’s local government elections, when we had so little time to campaign that there was a low turnout and they had room to manipulate the results.

He stated, “Do any surveys or polls, the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) has no vote bank in Karachi.”

He said that the interim Punjab chief minister was a close friend of Asif Ali Zardari and had been targeting them.

He stated, “When the courts ask me why I am not appearing before them, he said that when he was attacked in November, he knew for two months that an attack was being planned and that he had cried hoarse about it but no one listened to me.” He stated that when the courts asked him why he was not appearing before them.

He lamented that the police had filed their own FIR for the incident despite his inability to file one for the assault on him.

Later, he said that the JIT set up had evidence that three shooters were involved in the Wazirabad attack, but the new caretaker chief minister had sabotaged the JIT, and all of the records are now gone.

“How safe is my life? The three names I took are still in power.”

Imran cited the recent audio leaks from the former Punjab chief minister Chaudhry Parvez Elahi, who claimed that the opposition had been taped by the Benazir Bhutto government in 1996.

The former premier asserted that the federal interior minister’s admission of taping political opponents’ phones was sufficient cause to remove the government.

He mentioned that politicians in other nations had lost their governments as a result of such actions.

He claimed, “Even I have been told that my phones were taped and have been told that they could be released.”

There has never been a more flagrant abuse of state power against political opponents in history. It began with Shahbaz Gill and continued with Azam Swati. Swati claimed that the interim Punjab chief minister was a close associate of Asif Ali Zardari and was targeting them.

According to Imran, “on February 13, there was an incident earlier in the evening where, during the submission of nomination papers, there was an altercation between workers from Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N),” the incident occurred on February 13.

The PTI chief said that the PML-N workers didn’t get hurt, but 20 PTI workers were arrested and harassed all night.

According to the former premier, they provided a list of 25 police officers who had used violence against PTI supporters in violation of their authority during the lengthy May 25 march.

He claimed that “16 of those have now been reappointed in the Punjab.”