LAHORE: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan has urged his supporters to wait for his call for a '‘mass movement’' in case the government ‘deviated from the Constitution’.
“I will finalize awarding of tickets among the election aspirants in the next 10 days. The nation should make preparations for elections, as we would not let the government escape from holding elections in the country,” he stressed.
He was addressing gatherings of party workers in 75 cities in the country through live streaming. In Lahore, the party works assembled at Liberty Square in the city to mark a ‘Yaum-e-Tashakur’ on his call in the wake of the Supreme Court order for holding general elections in Punjab on May 14.
Supreme Court orders Punjab elections to be held on May 14
He alleged that the government was making efforts to divide the judges of the Supreme Court on the one hand and trying to widen the gap between the PTI and ‘establishment’ on the other to delay elections.
While expressing the hope that the Supreme Court judges would stay united in the larger interest of the country, Imran Khan said the government was endeavouring to fan differences between ‘the largest political party’ and the establishment like in 1970 when the then largest party was pushed to clash with the establishment that led to the dismemberment of the country.
He said no well-wisher of Pakistan would carry out such nefarious designs, which are not good for the country.
They give an impression that the establishment was behind the winding up of a joint investigation team formed to investigate the murder attempt on his life, a police raid on his residence and his likely abduction from the judicial complex during his appearance for indictment proceedings, he claimed.
He stressed the rule of law in the country, the supremacy of the Constitution and urged the people to be ready for a ‘jihad’, “”as neither Allah nor history would reprieve us in case the opposition gets succeeded in fulfilling their unjust plans.”
According to him, only free, fair and transparent elections could steer the country out of the economic mess, saying that overseas Pakistanis would invest in the country in case they are provided with a favourable environment. Both China and India provided a congenial environment to their diaspora and achieved the goal of becoming developed countries in the recent past, he said.
According to him, about 10 million Pakistani diasporas living abroad were not investing in Pakistan because of the absence of the rule of law. They prefer to invest in the property sector of Dubai, as some 20,000 overseas Pakistanis have purchased $10.4 billion property there, he said, adding that they are not ready to invest in Pakistan due to the absence of the rule of law.
He said the Constitution is very clear on holding elections within 90 days in case of dissolution of assemblies. However, the government was not ready to hold elections because it was apprehending a defeat. Already, he said, the government lost 30 out of 36 by-polls. He criticized the government for poor performance and alleged blackmailing the judges of the Supreme Court to fulfil their ulterior motives and dubbed it ‘a Sicilian mafia’.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023
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