File photo of Chaudhry Fawad Hussain
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Senior Vice-President Chaudhry Fawad Hussain on Sunday maintained that the only solution to the crises facing Pakistan was fully implementing the Constitution.
Addressing a press conference in Lahore alongside other members of the party leadership, he criticized the arrest of “hundreds” of PTI workers ahead of a rally at Minar-e-Pakistan the previous night. “People are being picked and rendered missing from Lahore,” he claimed. “[PTI worker] Azhar Mashwani went missing. It has been three days,” he said, emphasizing that there was no space for enforced disappearances in Pakistan.
Claiming the government had attempted to curtail the PTI’s “power show” at Minar-e-Pakistan by blocking Lahore with containers, he said all eyes were now on the Supreme Court to ensure the protection of fundamental rights. Accusing the incumbent government of doing politics based on fear, he said: “We are asking you to do your own politics and let us do ours too.”
Accusing Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah of “operating a gang,” Fawad questioned the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) leader’s politics, saying he was not acting in a democratic manner. To a question on the letter written by President Arif Alvi to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif over the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) postponing elections in Punjab, Fawad claimed: “Not a single answer has been given to the questions raised by the president.”
PTI Secretary General Asad Umar, meanwhile, told the press that the people of Lahore had attended the Minar-e-Pakistan rally despite fear of arrests and blockades erected by the government. “The coming week will be a turning point in Pakistan’s history,” he claimed, as he reiterated his party’s criticism of the government’s handling of the economy and its subsequent inflationary impacts. He warned the government to be cognizant of the public’s anger and prepare for elections. “They [government] know what the people will do to them if they seek their votes,” he added.