ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister and PTI chairman Imran Khan on Thursday said that the “neutrals” should review its policies while there was till time.
Address at a seminar in Islamabad, he said that decisions behind closed doors” was not in the best interests of the country.
The ex-PM said the nation would never forget the role of establishment which let crooks take power by ‘acting neutral’. “I want to ask the neutrals today […] do you know where the country is heading?”
“How can the country and economy progress when you don’t even know what will happen in the next 2-3 months,” Imran asked, adding that political stability was the pre-requisite for economic development and neither could be had without free and fair elections.
“You should review and think that there are 22 billion people in this country […],” he said, continuing that over 60 per cent of the population comprised of youngsters, and they needed jobs.
The PTI chairman warned that correct decisions needed to be today, asserting that he preferred death instead of the “compound failure” of the government.
He said that he always thought the country’s establishment would care more about Pakistan than the corrupt politicians. However, Imran Khan said he tries to learn from his mistakes.
The ex-PM said that National Accountability Bureau (NAB) was not under his control but somebody else had the ‘accelerator’ who controlled the proceedings of corruption cases against his opponents.
He criticized the two-party rule in Pakistan which was prevalent before PTI came into power in 2018.
Imran Khan said the fight against corruption could not be fought solely, but it was a collective duty of society. He said PML-N and PPP made corruption cases against each other.
He added that it was media’s job to criticize the government but questioned how it could remain silent against individuals who had multi-billion corruption cases on them.
He once again expressed the possibility that he would be disqualified. This could be used as a bargaining chip to provide a level playing field to Nawaz Sharif – who was disqualified for life.
PTI chairman said the ‘ghost’ of ‘enlightenment’ could not be buried back in the bottle no matter what the government does.
He said that only free and fair elections in Pakistan could steer it out of the prevailing crisis.
He asked the ‘neutrals’ to review their policies as securing loans would only bring short term stability in the country because wealth generation was missing.
He expressed fear that he might be ‘poisoned’ like the people who were witness in corruption case against Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif who died mysteriously of heart attacks in a span of two months. He said corruption is a symptom of absence of rule of law.
In his speech, the former prime minister talked about treatment with PTI leader Shahbaz Gill in jail. He claimed that Gill was stripped naked and tortured.
All this is arm-twisting to persuade Gill what he said (on a private TV channel) was at Khan’s behest, he added.
He said that Gill was asked during the investigation what Khan eats.
“These [erratic] questions were not asked because they care about my diet.” But, the ex-PM said that four witnesses in Rs16 corruption case against Shehbaz Sharif died of heart attack in a span of two months.
They knew what those people used to eat and this is how they were disposed of, Khan said.
Imran Khan said that what Gill said could be perceived wrong but there were more blazing anti-military statements given by Maryam Nawaz, Fazlur Rehman and others who did not face any action.
PTI chairman said all this is being done to frighten people to accept the people who looted the country for three decades.
