PESHAWAR: Workers of opposition parties held protest demonstrations in parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Sunday and demanded withdrawal of FIRs registered against Pakistan Democratic Movement representatives in Peshawar and other parts of the country.

In Peshwar, the opposition workers led by their leaders, including Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl provincial spokesman Maulana Abdul Jalil Jan, Pakistan Peoples Party city district president Zulfiqar Afghani, PML-N provincial vice-president Rashid Mehmood Khan and others, gathered outside Peshawar Press Club and shouted anti-government slogans.

Speaking on the occasion, they said the PDM workers had done nothing wrong, but the government attempted to victimise them just for taking part in the Nov 22 public meeting in Peshawar. They warned to react strongly in case the government did not withdraw the cases against their office-bearers. They said holding rallies in a peaceful manner was their democratic and constitutional right.

Say struggle will continue till ouster of govt

The speakers said they would follow decisions of the top PDM leadership and would not bow to any pressure tactics. They also condemned the arrests and baton charging of political workers in Multan and asked the government to immediately release them.

Holding banners and placards inscribed with their demands the protesters warned to hold rallies on daily basis in case the FIRs registered in Peshawar were not withdrawn immediately.

Mr Afghani and Jalil Jan also condemned the increasing prices of essential commodities and said it had made lives of the people miserable. They claimed that people were ready to march on Islamabad to observe sit-in outside the parliament.

They said that PDM’s struggle would continue across the country till ouster of the government. They condemned the death of six people in Khyber Teaching Hospital due to delay in supply of oxygen cylinders.

In Dera Ismail Khan, JUI-F workers took to the streets to record their protest against the arrests of PDM leaders and workers in Multan and action in Peshawar.

The protesters marched through bazaars while carrying placards inscribed with anti-government slogans. They chanted slogans against the PTI government for its failure to control inflation in the country.

In Tank, the workers of PPP and JUI-F held separate rallies against the flawed policies of government and arrests of PDM activists in Multan and registration of FIRs in Peshawar.

Addressing the participants, PPP city president Shams Mahsood and others denounced the incumbent provincial and federal governments for their failure to provide relief to the people from the price hike and resolve their other problems.

The JUI-F rally was addressed by its district deputy chief Mufti Allah Noor and others who condemned arrests of the PDM activists and threatened to expand the protests if the government failed to withdraw the FIRs.

In Mansehra, Pakistan Peoples Party provincial president Humayun Khan said that the government had lost peoples’ confidence and the Pakistan Democratic Movement’s long march would prove to be the last nail in its coffin.

“Get ready for long march on the federal capital as this would prove to be the last nail in the coffin of PTI government,” he told a public meeting here in Balakot. He said that a mafia involved in the sugar and wheat flour crises was being given protocol by the government, but time was not far when all such elements would face the law.

“We are committed to ousting this government which has put this country on the brink of bankruptcy,” he said and added that unemployment and inflation had made life miserable for the people.

The gathering was also addressed by district president Malik Farooq and general secretary Mohammad Fareed.

Published in Dawn, December 7th, 2020