Rising inflation helps Imran Khan step up pressure on govt

ISLAMABAD: Reiterating his party’s demand for early polls, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman and former prime minister Imran Khan on Saturday questioned the “institutions” what compelled them to install a ‘certified corrupt lot’ on the masses, asking if it only his job to fight the menace of corruption, or ‘they’ should also come forth to rid the country of the mafias plundering the national wealth for the last three decades.

Addressing a mammoth protest demonstration against the ‘imported regime’ and rising inflation in the country, attended by people from twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad, as well as, from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, he said: “Allah, the Almighty, will ask the ‘neutrals’ that you’d the powers but why did you stay neutral and allowed the corrupt to play havoc with the country”.

He also drew the attention of the country’s judiciary as to what would they say on the day of judgment when they would be asked about allowing ‘big thieves’ to rule the roost and putting those involved in minor cases to rot in jail.

“Isn’t this the responsibility of the institutions to ensure accountability and justice? I want to tell the judiciary and the neutrals that you will be questioned for what you are doing with the country on the Day of Judgment,” he added.

Whatever the government is doing the suppress the dissent through the registration of fake FIRs, he added, the institutions must know it is not going to work as people are not ready to accept the imported regime no matter how hard they try.

He condemned the attack on senior journalist Ayaz Amir by unknown men in Lahore, saying this is not acceptable and those involved in such tactics to suppress the truth would not succeed in their nefarious designs.

Imran vows non-stop movement until ‘imported regime’ thrown out

At the start of his speech, he explained why he had chosen to end his ‘long march’ on May 26, adding, “I knew there would be anarchy that evening and people would have come face to face with the police and the Rangers”.

“The nation, the police, the Rangers are all are mine…I don’t want to spread anarchy within my nation. I had set out just for one purpose: imported government is not acceptable. I had set out for one reason, and that was to show all the institutions where nation is standing and what it wants and that it will never accept these thieves,” he added.

“I invited you all today because I wanted to prove that if they hadn’t used force on May 25, there would have been a sea of people in Islamabad and it would have said one thing: imported government is not acceptable,” he added.

Taking a jibe at his rivals, he said that he knew that they wanted him to fight against the military and the judiciary, but “listen carefully that our life and death is in Pakistan”.

He lambasted the Sharifs and Zardaris, dubbing them “slaves and boot lickers” and held them responsible for the country’s economic plight. He also showed video clips where Sharifs and Zardaris could be seen making tall claims to bring down the inflation before coming into power. “My questions from Pakistan’s institutions is that how did you allow these thieves to be foisted over us? Is it not your Pakistan? Don’t you understand that when you place thieves atop the treasury, the country gets destroyed,” he maintained.

Khan claimed the incumbent rulers did not have any stake in the country as all their stolen assets were stashed abroad, adding it makes no difference to them if currency depreciates and country suffers setbacks because they don’t have to live and die here.

He said that people neither have accepted ‘the US conspiracy’ nor will they allow these ‘thieves’ to rule.

While referring to a statement of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and other political leaders, he said that no prime minister ever in the world had called his nation beggars.

“I want to send a message to everyone that if someone thinks that people of this country will accept those who worship money, you are mistaken,” he added.

The PTI chairman led a convoy to the venue from Rawalpindi earlier in the day.

Other senior leaders of PTI also addressed the crowed.

Prior to the jalsa, the police recovered a pistol and bullets from a person at the Parade Ground’s entrance.

The police said that the gunman named Saeed Ghani is an employee of the Public Health Department of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Thirty bores and 10 rounds were recovered from the man. The police have arrested the man and an investigation is under way.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022