Former prime minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan on Sunday accused former army chief General (retd) Qamar Javed Bajwa of giving “NRO-2”; – a reference to amnesty granted by former military ruler Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf – to incumbent rulers. “The first NRO was granted by General Musharraf and the second one was given by the one who was in power,”; Imran Khan said while addressing a press conference in Lahore.
Speaking about the detained PTI Senator Azam Swati, Imran Khan condemned the treatment being meted out to him over his controversial tweets against the state institutions and military officials.
“He [Azam Swati] was arrested just for saying General Bajwa gave NRO to thieves… the entire Pakistan knows that he [Gen Bajwa] gave NRO-2,”; he remarked.
Imran Khan said that in civilised societies a sitting senator cannot be “tortured or stripped naked”; just for sharing his opinion. “You can deny his [Swati’s] claim,”; he added.
Imran Khan said that it will not damage the interest of the “gang of thieves”; if the country defaults.
“What would happen If China and IMF do not bail us out? If country defaults, it will be a big loss for all of us,”; he added. Comparing his tenure with the incumbent government, Imran said he revived the economy despite unprecedented challenges of Covid-19 and Kashmir dispute.
“We inherited biggest current account deficit in the country’s history… GDP was 6 percent during our last year in power before the ‘regime-change operation’… today dollar is not even available for Rs250.”; Imran Khan said the “gang of thieves”; has properties in foreign countries worth billions of dollars, hence they do not care about the economic collapse of the country.
He added that the US dollar will further shoot up and there would be no foreign investment “if Pakistan defaults”;. “A group of thieves has been imposed on us,”; the deposed premier said, adding that the gang has been stealing national wealth for the past 30 years. He also said they were laundering the looted money abroad via illegal means including hundi and hawala. Imran accused the media of looking the other way on important matters and instead focusing on what he implied were trivial issues, such as his Toshakhana watch.
“The channels that used to bash the PTI government for inflation, those channels are quiet now and are instead focused on a watch,”; he said. “It’s my watch. I can sell it, and I can do whatever I want. No one is talking about the economical murder being committed now. Today, the inflation is double and at a 50-year high. Where are those media houses now? No one cares about the inflation now. When we used to say the inflation is due to global reasons, no one believed us. When these cabal of crooks say the same thing, no one is questioning,”; he pointed out. The former prime minister said that the PDM government does not have a roadmap to drag the country out of the economic crisis. “The economic situation will keep worsening if this government stays in power because there will be no political stability. The economy only grows when there is certainty,”; he said. Speaking about the PTI’s demand for early elections, Imran Khan said the economic condition of the country will continue to worsen until the incumbent government remained in power.
“The country is heading towards economic collapse with rising debts, while exports, remittances and foreign investments are declining,”; he remarked. “I ask my establishment, aren’t you concerned where the country is heading?”;
The PTI chief said he had not been demanding elections for his party. “I know my party will win elections even if elections are held on time… but I am afraid that economic crisis will worsen due to delay in polls.”; Imran Khan said the economic stability will never come without political stability. “They [incumbent rulers] don’t have any roadmap. Their only aim is to dispose of their corruption cases as they know they cannot win elections.”; Despite using the entire state machinery, Imran Khan said the PML-N and other allied parties lost by-elections. Speaking about the return of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s son Suleman Shehbaz, Imran said, “one by one all thieves will get relief in corruption cases and get themselves exonerated from corruption charges”;.
“After Ishaq Dar, now he [Suleman Shehbaz] will be dry-cleaned.”; The PTI chief reiterated his allegations that the “two thieves”; – Nawaz and Zardari – would go to any extent to delay elections in the country “because they don’t want to waste what they have achieved by ending their corruption cases during the last seven months”;.
Moreover, Imran said the incumbent rulers were buying time to lodge cases and disqualify him in collusion with the chief election commissioner.
For this reason, Imran said he was pressing institutions to pave way for early elections in the country to avert the default risk and save the country from economic collapse.
