Jailed PTI leaders call on govt to address immediate challenges, say national reconciliation ‘need of the hour’

Five PTI leaders imprisoned at Lahore’s Kot Lakhpat jail said on Tuesday that the government needed to revisit its approach to address immediate national challenges, adding that “national reconciliation is the need of the hour”.

The PTI leaders — Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Dr Yasmin Rashid, Ejaz Chaudhry, Mian Mahmoodur Rasheed, and Omar Sarfraz Cheema — made the remarks in a statement released through their lawyer.

They said that rising terrorism due to the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan, the deterioration in ties with Afghanistan, the attack on Iran by the United States and Israel in the middle of ongoing negotiations and Tehran’s retaliation had “destabilised the entire region”.

They further said that the advancement in ties between India and Israel was a “serious threat” to Pakistan.

They also talked about rising oil and gas prices after the outbreak of hostilities in the Middle East, saying it would have an “immediate impact on the macro-economic stability recently achieved through a huge price paid by the people of Pakistan”.

“Tensions in the Gulf states will have a negative influence on our remittances and investment climate. Public anger and outrage, witnessed throughout Pakistan, resulting in loss of lives, is a serious concern,” they said, in an apparent reference to deaths in protests that erupted following the assassination of Iran’s supreme leader.

“Business as usual is no longer possible. Current developments will have a negative impact on Pakistan’s economy, security and stability,” they said.

“The government must revisit their approach to address immediate national challenges. National reconciliation is the need of the hour,” the jailed PTI leaders said.

They went on to say that India’s decision to hold the Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance, the investment in increasing water storage capacity on the Jehlum and Chenab rivers and Pakistan’s failure to reach a consensus internally on water projects was “not only alarming, it can be devastating for the agrarian economy”.

“We do not have the luxury of time anymore; we must reconcile immediately,” the PTI leaders concluded.