Imran’s unresolved difficulty leaves him absolutely frustrated

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan on Saturday announced that his party has decided not to become a part of the country’s ‘current corrupt political system’ and to “resign from all the assemblies”.

Speaking at a mammoth rally in Rawalpindi, the ousted prime minister, said: “We will not be a part of this system and have decided to quit all the assemblies and leave this corrupt system.”

In his first public appearance since being shot at and injured at Wazirabad, Imran Khan said: “They (government) cannot afford ‘Islamabad march’...they cannot stop millions from entering Islamabad. We could have created a Sri Lanka-like situation, but we’ve decided to quit all the assemblies in the country in a bid to force the incumbent regime to announce snap polls,” he added.

This is pertinent to mention that PTI has governments in Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Azad Jammu and Kashmir, and Gilgit Baltistan.

The PTI chief, who is yet to recover fully, flew to Rawalpindi via a charter flight from Lahore, defying the federal government’s warning that he should postpone the rally over security threats.

He said that his party would not go to Islamabad to avert any destruction or chaos. “We’ve discussed the matter of quitting from all the assemblies with the chief ministers and final decision in this regard will be announced after PTI’s parliamentary party meeting in a few days,” he declared.

He said that he did not care about elections, since they would be held after nine months and his party would certainly emerge victorious, but the rally was needed as we are at crossroads and an economic chaos.

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In an obvious reference to the alleged ‘wealth’ of the outgoing army chief Qamar Javed Bajwa's family, he said: “I also want to say that those who saw a massive rise in their assets and trampled the nation’s rights…the history is also looking towards “him” and writing down what “he” did with the country”.

PTI chief also lashed out at a senior official of the intelligence agency, whom he calls “Dirty Harry” and accused of him being behind the alleged mistreatment of PTI supporters and journalists. “Threats to journalists and they’re being beaten up and then what happened with Arshad Sharif. We never saw this in Pakistan. There was barbarity and they were threatened. What was their fault? Because they were bringing Imran Khan’s narrative to the media,” he said.

He claimed that the spy agency official in question was also behind the harassment of the PTI’s social media workers and lawmakers Azam Swati and Shahbaz Gill.

PTI chief claimed that “three criminals” – those he accuses of being behind the Wazirabad assassination attempt on him – are waiting to take a shot at him again.

He said that he had a close encounter with death and had seen bullets flying overhead during the attack on him.

The former prime minister lamented why the country’s institutions do not learn from their past mistakes, adding the establishment and Election Commission of Pakistan had united with those in the current government against him but the nation had sent a resounding message that they stood with the PTI.

“I remember what happened in East Pakistan…we did not do justice with them or with Pakistan’s biggest political party, and we did not learn,” he added.

He claimed that there were three shooters in the Wazirabad assassination attempt on him, adding the two were those he had previously identified — one who fired at Imran Khan and the other leaders and the other who fired at the container’s front — and a third person who was meant to silence the assassin so they could not divulge any details.

Khan claimed that this third shooter had actually killed a person who lost his life in the attack while trying to kill the would-be assassin.

In an obvious reference to a speech by the outgoing army chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa, PTI chief said that all those quarters saying his party had concocted a “false narrative”, around a US cipher and a subsequent regime change conspiracy to remove his government, were actually part of the conspiracy, themselves.

He questioned whether the cipher in question did not exist or was not put before the National Security Committee or whether US ambassador Donald Lu had not had a conversation with Pakistan envoy Asad Majeed.

“Didn’t the NSC said protest against US and send them a demarche…when all this is the truth, how can someone say this was all a drama,” he questioned.

The ex-premier acknowledged that he had failed in one thing during his 3.5 years of government, which he said was to bring the powerful under the law.

He lamented that the National Accountability Bureau and other institutions were not truly under his control and received orders from behind from somewhere else. “The ones who had control never gave an order to proceed with investigations...instead of putting them in jails, they (the establishment) were making deals with them,” he maintained.

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He said those “who had power” did not consider corruption to be wrong, adding this was the reason his party government failed to do accountability.

He said that his party was the first to realise the dangers of climate change and work in this regard, adding his government had planted trees under the Billion Tree Tsunami and Ten Billion Tree Tsunami programmes to tackle climate change.

Khan lauded his government’s performance in tackling the Covid-19 pandemic and credited its decisions with taking the country out of that crisis.

The former prime minister also recounted his government’s economic performance and initiatives such as the health card, economic growth, exports, etc.

He said that the country’s current problems are not due to a lack of resources but no rule of law since the beginning.

He particularly hit out at the Sharif and Zardari families and accused them of making decisions and key appointments in their favour instead of the national interest.

He said prosperous societies had a rule of law while developing countries were afflicted by no regard for the law which explained their problems.

He said the nation stands at a defining point and crossroads with two paths before it: one path is one of blessings and greatness while the other path was of humiliation and destruction.

Other senior leadership of the party also addressed the rally. The chief ministers KP and Gilgit Baltistan were also present, while CM Punjab Pervez Elahi was not seen around.

Foolproof security measures were put in place to avoid any untoward incident. The cellular service also remained suspended in parts of Rawalpindi close to the protest venue.

All the roads leading to Islamabad were also shut by placing shipping containers at all the entry points, while heavy contingent of security stood guard to prevent any attempt by PTI protesters to march onto the capital.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022