The announcement of “Jail Bharo Tehreek” (fill the prison movement) by Imran Khan drew strong reaction from the government side on Saturday as Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Marriyum Aurangzeb chided the PTI leadership, saying that it didn’t even have the courage to go to jail and the announcement was merely to use party workers.
The government’s spokesperson threw a gauntlet to PTI leadership to lead by example and go to jail before the party workers and supporters as she addressed a joint press conference with Minister of State for Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety Faisal Karim Kundi in Islamabad.
The information minister challenged the PTI leadership to first surrender themselves before the courts and withdraw bails taken in different cases before making big announcements.
As she was addressing the media, PTI’s vice chairman and former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi vowed that the party would fill all the jails of Pakistan on party chief Imran’s call, saying this way the “fascist imported government’s wish” would be fulfiled. He said that the handcuff and torture was nothing and they could lay life for the motherland.
During the press conference, Marriyum while referring to Imran said that a man was repeating the same speech that he has been giving for the past 20 years. However, she said, it was not easy to mislead the people of Pakistan.
Read more: Imran Khan announces ‘Jail Bharo Tehreek’
During PTI rule, Marriyum said that Imran put opposition and journalists in jails, saying Imran even went to America and talked about taking revenge from political opponents. She said that people of Pakistan were in trouble due to the wrong decisions of Imran-led government.
Calling Imran “coward”, Marriyum said that he was hiding in Zaman Park, Lahore, and busy shielding workers for his politics. In the Jail Bharo movement, she said, the leadership is the first to go to jail.
“Imran Khan does not have the courage for the jail bhaor movement,” Marriyum said, saying it would be better for Imran to go to the courts and face the cases pending against him.
Emphasising that the ruling government understood the plight of the people, she said that Imran brought the country to the brink of bankruptcy and the incumbent government had to implement the agreements made by Imran.
Speaking on the occasion, Faisal Karim Kundi said that if the former prime minister was fond of going to prison then why is he seeking bail in cases against him.
“Imran Khan’s actions and language will land him in jail,” Kundi said in response to PTI chief’s announcement, adding that the former premier will take a U-turn on this as well.
Meanwhile, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister Attaullah Tarar said that someone may have misinformed Imran Khan about the meaning of “Jail bharo Tehreek”.
“All bails in pending cases are withdrawn after such movements,” he maintained.
He questioned whether Imran Khan will withdraw bails in foreign funding, cipher and Toshakhana cases.
