LAHORE, May 6: The PML-N government has unleashed a ‘reign of victimisation’ against the PML-Q workers, implicating them in over 200 false cases in each district of Punjab, alleged Chaudhry Shujaat Husain and Pervaiz Elahi, president and parliamentary leader of the party here on Tuesday at a joint press conference.

The PML-Q leaders who were accompanied by Humayun Akhter Khan, one of the alleged party rebels, said the ruling party in the province seemed to have learnt nothing from the confrontational politics they had been doing in the past, resulting in trouble for every one.

They said their party had offered cooperation to the new government for achieving good governance, adding if the ‘victimisation’ of the PML-Q workers continued, the offer would not remain unconditional.

Those who talked about rule of law must explain under which law Shahbaz Sharif, who was still not a member of the provincial assembly, was interviewing government officers for their transfers and postings, asked the Chaudhrys.

They further alleged the rulers were conspiring against local governments and had frozen their accounts in the name of audit which was a routine procedure and did not require such drastic measures. Under the garb of audit and freezing of accounts, the provincial government was transferring the development funds of the local governments to its own coffers, they claimed.

“It is totally illegal as the National Finance Commission has provided funds directly to the district governments according to their population,” Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi said. Tinkering with their accounts was illegal, and would be agitated against as such on all possible platforms, he added.

He said the new government itself set an unrealistic target of 100 days to improve things, whereas the country was facing a total chaos. Prices had doubled in the last one month, instead of going back to the level of 1999, as promised by the government, he pointed out, adding the PML-Q would contest the next by-elections on the issue of price hike.

About ending "unconditional cooperation" with the government, Mr Hussain said the party was still watching and waiting. But, such a situation could not last indefinitely, he warned.

The rural areas, he said, had plunged into chaos as the farmers, instead of being allowed to sell their produce in the open market, were being harassed and chased by the government agencies. The farmers might take to the street if they were not allowed free access to the market, he warned and added: “There is a strong possibility that farmers may not sow wheat next year if they do not get fair price this year. It will only put additional pressure on food security. The government has no agriculture policy and it has turned an agriculture country on its head,” he added.

The government, he said, was hesitant about implementing blasphemy ordinance, which was already in the parliament. It would get full cooperation from the PML-Q if it took up the ordinance and turned it into law, he said.

The Chaudhrys warned everyone against accusing them of involvement in Bank of Punjab scam. “No one, even from the distant family, was involved in the scam and those pointing finger at us would be pursued and sued with full legal might,” they said.