PM Shehbaz says Imran committed treason, inflicted irreparable damage to country

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said Thursday that by building a deceitful narrative of conspiracy against his government, former premier Imran Khan committed treason against Pakistan and its people and inflicted irreparable damage to the country’s reputation, APP reported.

The prime minister, while referring to an audio leak that allegedly revealed a conversation between the then prime minister Imran Khan and ex-principal secretary Azam Khan about using the classified diplomatic cable for political purposes, said the episode had badly damaged Pakistan’s relations with the friendly countries.

He said sans the audio leak, the ambiguity could prevail for years but Allah blessed the nation by exposing Imran Khan’s “fraud, deceit and worst conspiracy against Pakistan."

“The audio tells all. Is there any doubt yet as to who hatched the conspiracy? Who are the real conspirators? It was Imran Khan and his cronies,” the prime minister told a press conference at the PM House.

He said the coalition government is trying to revive bit-by-bit the ties with other countries damaged by the ex-premier.

“It was the worst dishonesty and played a game with the nation’s confidence and hurt the national integrity. This is unprecedented in the country’s history,” he remarked rubbishing Imran Khan’s allegation of his role behind the audio leak.

Recalling the process of the vote of no-confidence against Imran Khan and the rejection of the motion by that time deputy speaker, the prime minister said the PTI chairman and his party had wasted the nation’s time.

“That conspiracy stands exposed without any ambiguity. For the last five years, I have been saying that he (Imran Khan) is the biggest liar doing all just to serve his own interests,” he commented.

He told the media that the National Security Committee, in its two meetings, categorically made it clear that the cipher had nothing to do with the conspiracy.

To a question, Shehbaz Sharif confirmed that the PM House’s copy of the cipher was missing.

Discussing the flood situation, the prime minister said the coalition government had spent Rs100 billion for relief of the flood-stricken population.

He said during the catastrophic flood situation too, Imran Khan played a negative role by maligning the government just to keep the donors from supporting the flood-hit people of Pakistan.

"This is a disservice to Pakistan. This cold-hearted person did not think of the suffering of humanity. He has no soft corner for humanity,” the prime minister said and appreciated the efforts of his ministers and institutions including NDMA and PDMA for relief and rehabilitation of the flood-hit people.

Appreciating the UN Secretary-General for contesting the flood-hit Pakistan’s case before the world, the prime minister said China had provided relief aid worth $90 million, $61 million by the US besides the support pouring in from the UAE, Qatar, Japan, and others.