LAHORE: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman and former prime minister Imran Khan Friday said he was ready to face a treason case under Article 6, as it would provide him with an opportunity to disclose everything about the conspiracy in the court that he could not say till now.

He said that all plans have been made to rig the by-elections on July 17; “thus, we all must be vigilant on the polling day to protect our mandate”. He was addressing rallies as part of the by-election campaign in the constituencies of the PTI candidates running for by-elections in PP-167, PP-168 and PP-170 here.

On the Supreme Court’s judgment on the no-confidence vote, the former prime minister was baffled by the descending note of a judge that a reference under Article 6 should be filed against him and other PTI leaders; “rather than imposing Article 6, the cypher (relating to the conspiracy) should have been investigated.”

He added that the superior court in its judgment said that the cypher was not investigated; “I ask them who was going to probe the matter.”

“We had requested the court to constitute a commission for the investigation. Nawaz Sharif, Shehbaz Sharif and Asif Zardari would never form the commission, as they were a part of the conspiracy. History will never forgive those who were involved in the conspiracy,” he added.

The PTI Chairman alleged that ‘Mr X’ has received an order to ensure that the PTI opponents win the by-elections and thus he was making all the arrangements to rig the polls. “Mr X has prepared 15,000 to 20,000 bogus votes in every constituency,” he added.

Thus, he urged the PTI poll agents and supporters to be vigilant on the polling day and protect their mandate. He said that all the recent surveys showed that the PTI was leading against its opponents in the by-polls and commended the people of Lahore for breaking the shackles of fear. Hence, he was confident that they will sweep the by-elections; “Pakistan was a nation of 220 million proud people who would accept anyone imposed on them”.

While criticising the Election Commission of Pakistan, Imran said that it has accepted in the court that it mistakenly excluded 4 million votes from the voters’ list for reportedly being dead and thus he demanded the resignation of the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC).

Khan asked the ‘neutrals’ why they let the conspiracy succeed against him, why they did not stop the thieves (the Sharif family) from plundering the country and why a government of looters was imposed on the Pakistanis. “India was celebrating when Shehbaz became the Prime Minister while Israel was jubilant when my government was toppled. The United States would never want to see Pakistan a strong country,” he added.

On petrol prices, Khan said that Shehbaz Sharif was a cunning man; he increased the price of diesel by Rs 130 per litre and then reduced it by just Rs 35 per litre. “He should know that the people will not be fooled by this cunning move,” he added.

He continued to criticise Shehbaz Sharif for begging money from Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the United Arab of Emirates. “A prime minister of a proud and dignified nation visited these countries to beg money without any success. They all refused because of his reputation of being a corrupt leader. We cannot accept a beggar as the Prime Minister of Pakistan. If he (Shehbaz) was a proud Pakistani then he should bring back his money from abroad and save the economy,” he added.

“The Sharif family has looted the country’s wealth worth billions of dollars and bought properties abroad. They all were either convicted in corruption cases or facing corruption charges. All people involved in the cases of the Sharif family have died mysteriously, suffering cardiac arrests. Journalist Imran Riaz Khan also suspects he was poisoned while he was in jail,” he added.

He came hard on the turncoats for selling their conscience in return for money and said that “we have to defeat them”. He reiterated the story of the American conspiracy against his government and added that the turncoats were a part of that conspiracy to topple his government.

While addressing the Lahore Police CCPO and Punjab Police IG, the former prime minister said that they would be held accountable for the crimes they committed on May 25 during PTI’s Azadi March and for obeying illegal orders of the Punjab Chief Minister.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022