LAHORE: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) Punjab chapter on Tuesday organised a protest and token hunger-strike camp outside the Punjab Assembly against imposition of the Reformed General Sales Tax (RGST), price-hike, unemployment and alleged corruption in government departments. Party leaders led by PTI Punjab President Ahsan Rashid opposed imposition of new taxes under the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) orders and urged the federal government to give up its anti-poor policies. They said that rulers were only playing a numbers game to secure their rule and safeguard corruption instead of solving problems of the masses.
A large number of people participated in the token hunger-strike and protest along with PTI workers. Rashid said that the common man was committing suicides and politicians who claimed to be representatives of the people were living in palaces and spending hard-earned money of poor people, collected through different taxes, on lavish foreign tours. He said that corrupt rulers were squeezing blood of the common man by imposing new taxes on people who were already paying heavy taxes, instead of exploring new ways to use natural resources of the country. The PTI Punjab president said that the rulers did not know meaning of hunger and could not understand sufferings of millions of people fighting over food in flood-affected areas.
He warned that if the federal and provincial governments did not change their anti-people policies, “hungry lions” would invade all government offices where the masses were being exploited through corruption.
PTI Punjab Vice President Amin Zaki said that corrupt rulers, who had occupied various offices all over Pakistan under the banner of NRO, were only pursuing the agenda of exploitation of masses and every corrupt person was challenging the judiciary, which was taking action against corruption. He said that people were ready to take revenge from such corrupt people who only know how to exploit the masses and live luxurious lives on taxpayers’ money.
PTI Information Secretary Umer Sarfraz Cheema said that plight of the common man was worsening day-by-day and corrupt politicians were least concerned about problems of the people who had voted for them in the last general elections. He said that if rulers were not bothered about increase in suicides, price-hike, unemployment and lawlessness, then they had no right to rule the masses.
Cheema said that rulers were only busy in corruption and could not hear voices of the masses. He said that people were fed up of the current set-up and wanted a change and Imran Khan was the only true leader who could save the nation from poverty and exploitation. The PTI information secretary warned that any attempt to stop the masses would bring a revolution similar to the French revolution in the country.
