Will oppose “Jail Bharo Tehreek” in a manner no one can foresee, he promises. Sanaullah

RAWALPINDI On Sunday, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah promised that the government will take on Imran Khan’s “Jail Bharo Tehreek” in a manner that no one could have predicted.

Speaking at the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) organisation convention, he said that Mr. Khan had simultaneously declared the action and summoned the party’s female workers to the streets to support him against his [potential] arrest. He said, “You [Mr. Khan] initiate the movement once and watch how we react. He said that the government would imprison PTI members who sought to sow instability in the nation but would not overcrowd the prisons with those Mr. Khan had misled.

He said that the PML-N had been working to steer the country away from problems while the Imran group had been striving over the last seven months to bring the nation dangerously close to default. When necessary, “the PML-N and Nawaz Sharif drove the nation out of quagmire,” he said. He said that Mr. Khan pressured President Dr. Arif Alvi to oppose the [mini-budget] decree in order to postpone the IMF programme.

On the country’s general elections, he said that only if there was a single temporary government in place could transparent elections be held. In order to maintain transparency, he said, “The constitution binds to conduct elections within 90 days following the dissolution of assembly, but it does so under the supervision of caretaker setup.” If elections were conducted separately for the National Assembly and provincial legislatures, he said, they would last the whole year.

He said that by asserting that the PML-N was in charge of the federation and that its allies were in charge of Sindh and Balochistan, it would enable the Imran gang to flog rigging. He said, “Then he will drive the nation into chaos as he is always ready to do so.” He said that Mr. Khan used a variety of strategies, including protracted marches, rallies, and demonstrations, to exacerbate the nation’s unrest.