ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister and Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan on Monday alleged that Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sika­ndar Sultan Raja was ‘getting dictation’ from the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leadership to enable the ruling party to win the next general election.

“We know that the chief election commissioner used to visit Lahore every week where Maryam Nawaz and Hamza Shehbaz dictated him to create constituencies in a way that they benefited the PML-N in the elections,” Mr Khan said while addressing a farmers’ convention at his Banigala residence.

He said cases were being registered against PTI leaders who were presently busy in getting bails from various courts.

The former prime minister accused the present government of following the United States’ agenda and not getting cheap oil from Russia.

Calls on farmers to take part in next long march; JUI-S, PTI agree to form electoral alliance

Terming the current setup ‘imported’, Mr Khan said: “They had come into power for two reasons: to implement the US agenda and get their corruption cases closed.”

He said he would give another call for a long march against the government and urged farmers to take part in it.

The PTI chief said despite being an American ally, India was getting cheap oil from Russia and had reduced the price of the commodity by Rs25.

“The imported government did not have the courage to buy cheap oil from Russia because it was getting orders from Washington,” he alleged, adding that early elections were the only way to rid the country of the current turmoil.

Highlighting the achievements of his government in the field of agriculture, Mr Khan said the sector had been prospering at a growth rate of 4.5pc during the PTI government’s tenure and farmers were getting market-compatible rates for their crops.

“The country’s security will be endangered if the agriculture sector does not prosper,” he feared, adding that Russia-Ukraine war had created wheat shortage internationally as the supply chain had been badly disrupted.

He said the price of urea was Rs1,700 per sack when his party was in power in the Centre whereas it was now available for Rs2,800.

Electoral alliance

Meanwhile, Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Sher­ani (JUI-Sherani) and PTI agreed to formulate a joint political and electoral strategy.

A consensus was reached in a meeting between PTI Chairman Imran Khan and JUI-Sherani group leader Maulana Mohammad Khan Sherani at the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa House on Monday.

Vice Chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Vice President Senator Ijaz Chaudhry, former religious affairs minister Noorul Haq Qadri, the party’s Balochistan chapter president, Qasim Suri, Ali Amin Gandapur and former Sindh governor Imran Ismail were also present on the occasion.

During the meeting, both leaders agreed to form a political and electoral alliance with mutual consultation. They also discussed various issues of mutual interest.

Expressing his views, Maulana Sherani said both parties had the same stance on the movement against Islamophobia and underlined the need for eliminating widespread discrimination from the society.

Imran Khan welcomed the JUI-Sherani group leaders and asked them to play their role in guiding the nation.

He said the PTI was striving for higher political and social goals and prayed for the success of the agreement reached between the two parties.

PTI criticises budget

PTI Secretary General Asad Umar expre­ssed his alarm at the ‘imported’ budget, saying it had created a ‘doomsday scenario’.

He said the finance minister had himself admitted that the budget neither met the expectations of the people nor of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

In a statement, the former minister said the ‘imported’ government’s hurriedly-presented budget had caused widespread despondency in the country.

“Imported Finance Minister Miftah Ismail accepted that the budget failed to meet expectations of the countrymen,” Mr Umer said.

On the other hand, PTI leader Farrukh Habib said a ‘corrupt gang’ was hell-bent upon paralysing Pakistan economically through its flawed economic policies and wrong priorities.

In a statement, he said the government had created a cost-of-living crisis as prices of daily-use items had skyrocketed. “The imported ministers, meanwhile, were trying to mislead people by presenting a rosy picture,” he added.

Published in Dawn, June 14th, 2022