'How can Shehbaz Sharif be so shameless?': Imran gives govt dressing down

Former prime minister Imran Khan wondered Friday morning how Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif could be "so shameless" in a social media post reprimanding the government's performance over the last 10 months.

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman said on Twitter he doesn't recognise this "imported government installed through conspiracy and horse trading". 

Shifting his focus to PM Shehbaz, he questioned the premier on his government's "destruction" over the last 10 months it has been in power of Pakistan's economy and democracy with what Imran referred to as "brazen fascism, end of fundamental rights and rule of law and allowing terrorism to spread under its watch".

Along with his stern criticsm of the government, the PTI chair shared an image which listed down names of people, mainly PTI politicians, but also some journalists, who had been arrested or had had cases filed against them, had been allegedly tortured, killed and been a victim of a targeted attack during the last 10 months. It also called into question the role of the Supreme Court.

The list included the names of PTI leaders Shahbaz Gill, Azam Swati, Fawad Chaudhry, Sheikh Rashid, Shandana Gulzar, Imran Khan himself, journalists Arshad Sharif and Imran Riaz and others.

The PTI chief's latest dressing down of the incumbent government comes after the PM invited Imran to an all-parties conference (APC) set to take place in Islamabad on February 7 aimed at finding solutions to surmount the daunting economic and political crises faced by Pakistan.

The prime minister seeks to bring heads of all political parties on the table so that they could join heads and strategise to get out of the ongoing turmoil, Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb had said in a statement. 

She had said that Federal Minister Ayaz Sadiq had started contacting top PTI leaders, including former National Assembly speaker Asad Qaiser and ex-defence minister Pervez Khattak, and had asked them to participate in the upcoming moot.

PTI leader Asad Qaiser, meanwhile, said that consultations were under way within the party over participation in the government’s APC.

The invitation is a major development as the PDM-led government and the PTI have always been at loggerheads on almost all national issues.

Imran Khan rejects PM Shehbaz Sharif's invitation, to skip APC

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Secretary General Asad Umar, meanwhile, shared on Friday that his party chief Imran Khan will skip the federal government's APC scheduled for February 7.

Umar, while speaking to the press outside the Lahore High Court, said: "How can we sit with them [PDM-led government] while cases are being registered against us?"

"The Constitution is being violated by registering cases of treason against the opponents and all the government resources are devoted to arrests and detentions," he told the media.

While mentioning the by-elections he said: "Governors are not ready to provide the dates for the elections," adding that 220 million people of Pakistan will not allow anyone to seize their rights.