Imran's civil disobedience movement has crippled PTI: Shahbaz Sharif
Shahbaz Sharif says that Imran Khan’s civil disobedience movement has crippled PTI.
LAHORE (Dunya News) — Chief Minister of Punjab Shahbaz Sharif said on Tuesday that after Imran Khan’s demand for a technocrat’s caretaker government, his announcement of civil disobedience movement has crippled Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Dunya News reported.
In a statement, Shahbaz Sharif has said that Imran Khan’s rigidity and ego has left him alone in the sphere of politics. After his demand for technocrat’s caretaker government, Imran Khan’s announcement of launching a civil disobedience movement in his public address in Islamabad has cracked his party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, he said. He stressed that all the people who love their country have disregarded and criticized Imran Khan’s civil disobedience movement. The public is well-aware of what is right and wrong, he added. He said that the basic purpose of Azadi March was to bear down on country’s economy and the civil disobedience movement is also part of the same script. Though the conspiracy has failed, Pakistan had to suffer a loss of trillions of rupees.
Imran Khan, who heads Parliament s third largest bloc, made the announcement at a rally in the capital calling for Sharif to step down over alleged voting fraud in the May 2013 election, the first democratic transfer of power in a country with a long history of military dictatorships.
Khan also warned that his supporters would take over Parliament if Sharif does not resign within two days.
"We decide today that we will not pay taxes to his illegitimate government, we will not pay electricity bills, gas bills," Khan said to a charged crowd estimated at 10,000 to 15,000 people. "I urge all the traders to stop paying taxes."
Khan and cleric Tahir-ul-Qadri, a dual Canadian citizen with a wide following who spends most of his time abroad, have mounted twin protests that have brought thousands of people into the streets in Islamabad. They accuse Sharif of rigging the election that brought him to power.
Finance Minister and Sharif ally Ishaq Dar called Khan s move unconstitutional, and Information Minister Pervaiz Rashid called the demand a "joke." But both ministers told media that their government was ready to negotiate with Khan over his demands for electoral reforms within the constitutional framework.
While the crowds have fallen well short of the million marchers that both men promised, their presence and the government s heightened security measures have virtually shut down business in the capital.
Police estimate that the crowds in both sit-ins have gradually dwindled since they arrived in the capital late Friday. Both rallies began as a caravan of vehicles setting out from the eastern city of Lahore. Police official Nasir Shah estimated that there were currently around 25,000 to 30,000 people in both rallies.
