- Opposition parties PPP, PTI, PML, PAT join forces to protest against unabated electricity load shedding, Karachi heat wave deaths
Workers and leaders of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Pakistan Muslim League (PML) and Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) protested in front of the Lahore Press Club on Friday against prolonged and unscheduled power load shedding and the deaths caused by the Karachi heat wave in the past few days.
While addressing the combined opposition parties big rally, PPP Punjab President Manzoor Wattoo said that the oppositions’ combined struggle would continue till tyranny, injustice and load shedding of the electricity will continue to haunt the people in the country.
He revealed that he requested Shujat Hussain, Pervez Elahi, Chaudhry Sarwar and Raheeq Abbassi to organise the rally jointly on the pattern of such protest against load shedding in Islamabad by the opposition parties. All of them agreed to the initiative, he added.
He congratulated the workers and office bearers of all the political parties for organising such a big rally at a short notice.
In his address, he stated that the government had miserably failed in controlling the load shedding of electricity notwithstanding of their tall promises of controlling it in months than years.
He pointed out that the Solar Park in Bahawalpur would meet the same fate as the other projects including Nandipur Power Project because the cost of generation of electricity was the highest in the world.
“The PPP added 3400MW to the national grid but the current government has added only 100MW over the two years in power,” he pointed out.
He particularly mentioned the plight of the farmer community that had faced the major brunt of the anti-farmer policies of the current government.
“The farmers have been subject to recurring losses over the last two years but the government apathy towards them is appalling as no measures are afoot to rectify the situation,” he added.
He said that the agriculture sector was on the decline and resultantly the rural economy was at the brink of disaster but the government seemingly had turned its blind eye as the development of agriculture did not figure out in the development strategy of the government.
He announced among the charged crowd that the government was anti-poor, anti-farmer, anti-government servants and anti-labour because it did not announce any substantial relief to improve the quality of their lives.
Addressing the rally, PPP leader Aitzaz Ahsan said that government’s ministers had become arrogant after their necks had been saved from PTI and PAT sit-ins.
“Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif had promised to end load shedding in 2 years and offered his be changed in case he doesn’t fulfill the promise,” Ahsan reminded the government.
“Will the chief minister change his name himself or opposition should do the honour?” he asked.
Earlier in his speech, PTI Punjab organiser Chaudhry Sarwar held the federal government responsible for the over 1000 deaths due to heat wave. He further said that the government had no clear roadmap to control load shedding of electricity in the country.
He observed that the people had no access to justice, adding that the murders of Model Town, killers of Daska Bar president and of two brothers of Faislabad could not be brought to book.
PAT President Raheeq Abbassi termed the present government a terrorist government and expressed his resolve that the people would not rest till pushing out the rulers from the corridor of power and bring in their true representatives.
Punjab Assembly Opposition Leader Mahmoodur Rasheed and Chaudhry Zaheeduddin also addressed the rally.