Daily Times

Former information minister and PTI Senior Vice President Fawad Chaudhry Monday warned the government against using force to stop the Azadi March. Addressing a press conference in Islamabad, he said the government could arrest the PTI leaders and workers if it wanted to, but it would not be in its favour. Sharing the plan for the march, Fawad said Imran would leave Peshawar in the morning on May 25 and while leading a rally from the KP capital, he would reach Islamabad the same day. He noted that the call to march towards Islamabad was restricted to people in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, while workers in Karachi would hold protests in their city.

He also said the PTI chairman would also announce the next action plan on June 3, indicating that the march could extend. The PTI leader further told the government that it could not stop “hundreds of thousands of people” from marching to Islamabad. “Women, children, ex-servicemen, doctors, and bureaucrats will be part of our march. Retired generals will also be part of our long march,” claimed Fawad, says a news report.

The former federal minister said there were “responsible” officers in the administration who had informed PTI that they were being “pressurized”. He claimed that several officers would resign, but would not play their part in stopping the march.

Fawad said the country was facing “embarrassment” due to the Sharif family and the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM). He also told PML-N to hold an inter-party consultation and quit the coalition government claiming that PPP Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari had the upper hand and due to him, “Pakistan was suffering”.

Berating the government, he said India had recently slashed the price of petroleum products after it imported cheap oil from Russia. “We were about to enter the same deal, but we weren’t allowed to sign it.”

Praising the ousted government’s accomplishments, Chaudhry said during their term, the country witnessed a GDP growth of 6% and increased employment opportunities.

He claimed that the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia had made it clear to the coalition government of their intentions. The statement comes amid reports that Riyadh has linked its support to Islamabad with the revival of the stalled International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) programme.

“Their countries’ intelligence agencies have told them that the people of Pakistan do not stand with the current government,” he said. The ex-information minister said with every passing day, economic and political crises were deepening. “Till the political situation does not settle, the economic turmoil will continue.”

He said if the incumbent government remained in power for the next two to three months, there was a fear of Pakistan defaulting.