ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan claimed on Wednesday there was no government both in the Centre and in Punjab.

Speaking to party workers in Rawalpindi, he said: “There is no government in the Centre and the Punjab as criminal mafia is ruling the roost and as a result, the people are suffering the most.”

He said that Pakistan’s most populous province had been in complete political chaos since the “corrupt son” of the “crime minister” seized power in Punjab through a fraudulent election. Mr Khan said that police and local administration in Punjab had joined this mafia and unleashed a wave of terror on PTI workers, leaders and their families.

He said that police had used force against “peaceful protesters” in Islamabad, likening the action to the tactics used by police against the people of India-occupied Kashmir.

In another address to his party’s workers, Mr Khan made it clear that the PTI was fighting for the “real and true independence” of the country.

The PTI chief said those who had looted the country for 30 years had now been again imposed through a US-backed conspiracy, which had brought the country to the verge of bankruptcy as people were groaning under inflation.

Imran Khan said that attempts were being made to deprive the people of their democratic right of peaceful protest, recalling the “excesses against PTI workers and leaders” on May 25.

“Even in the martial law government, police and Rangers are not allowed to use teargas and shelling, but they resorted to all these brutal tactics because they are well-aware of the consequences if the people took to the streets,” the PTI leader said.

Published in Dawn, June 16th, 2022