LAHORE: The Opposition Leader in the Punjab Assembly, Malik Ahmad Khan Bhachar, has said the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf is not in competition with the PML-N or the PPP, but with the establishment that brought both these parties in power.

In a meeting with senior journalists at the Punjab Assembly on Wednesday, Mr Bhachar said the establishment was called in to support the civil administration under Article 245 of the Constitution on Nov 26 (2023) at D-Chowk, Islamabad.

He said a dialogue could be successful in an hour, if the establishment wanted to. He alleged that the PTI faced fascism at its peak and claimed that the party leaders were denied access to the incarcerated party founder, Imran Khan.

PTI Punjab chief organiser Aliya Hamza said the government’s failure in wheat procurement, decline in cotton crop, lower tax growth, increasing fuel and power prices and unbridled inflation were making the lives of the poor miserable.

Earlier, at a press conference, Mr Bhachar said the chief minister and her uncle had filled newspapers’ front pages with their advertisements using the public money recklessly. He said Supreme Court’s 2018 judgment bars any political party from using public resources for personal advertisement.

“The advertisement campaign in newspapers is a contempt of court and the PTI will approach the court,” he said.

He said this government published a book, which was nothing but a pack of lies and added that the PTI would bring a “white paper” against them. “We requested for the book, which the PML-N government published, but it was not given to us,” he added.

He alleged the police were continuously raiding the residences of the PTI MPAs and ticket-holders. The PML-N government was using police only to arrest PTI workers, instead of curbing crime in society, he said.

He regretted that PTI MPA and former minister Aslam Iqbal had not been allowed to take oath at the Punjab Assembly, and urged the speaker to grant him the permission.

Mr Bhachar said the PTI members had also submitted a requisition for calling the assembly session to discuss the issue of denying the party leaders access to Imran in jail.

Published in Dawn, February 27th, 2025