GUJAR KHAN: Former Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) leader Chaudhry Fawad Hussain on Tuesday said founder PTI chairman Imran Khan and his spouse, Bushra Bibi, have been facing incarceration for long due to poor strategy of the current PTI leadership.

He was talking to journalists at his residence in Ladhar near Dina, Mr Fawad Chaudhry said that the PTI leadership had badly failed to provide a political strategy due to which problems were exacerbating for the party despite enjoying massive public support.

“The real focus of the PTI should be on building an opposition alliance with Maulana Fazlur Rehman, Mahmood Khan Achakzai, Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) and Jamaat-i-Islami,” Mr Chaudhry said, adding that “talks with the government cannot take place unless these political parties gather on one page”.

The minister said that the government would not agree on anything as it has already lost legal, political, and constitutional fight.

“How the government can seriously engage in dialogue when it has no fear of the consequences of its failure,” the former minister said while emphasising the importance of forging an opposition alliance.

While talking about the suspension of construction work at the 128-kilometre-long Lillah-Jhelum dual carriageway, he said that the cost of the project had soared to around Rs27-30 billion from Rs16 billion, when it was approved by the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf government in 2021.

He said the federal and Punjab governments approved Rs1.5 trillion and Rs824 billion respectively for development in their budgets.

He said that the government should have allocated Rs10-12bn for the road project for its timely completion as people were undergoing agony on a daily basis.

Taking upon the elected Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) representatives from Jhelum district, he said that they had failed to approve funds for the project, and even Rs60 million for the trauma centre in Tobah town of Pind Dadan Khan which was also approved during the PTI government.

Published in Dawn, June 20th, 2024