ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman and former prime minister Imran Khan on Wednesday reiterated that he was not anti-American or against any country, but there would be no compromise on relations based on mutual respect.
In a virtual address to the nation – who took out rallies all over the country on his call to celebrate the victory of the PTI in chief minister Punjab election case – he congratulated the nation for “defeating a foreign conspiracy hatched against his government” as a nation.
“I’d seen my nation united once in 1965 war between Pakistan and India, and now on July 17 by-polls when they responded as a nation and defeated the foreign conspiracy,” he added.
He reiterated his party’s demand of early elections under a new election commissioner, saying it is the only way out to steer the country out of economic and political crises.
He said that the only way forward to lift the country up is to ensure rule of law and alleviation of poverty like China did by bringing out 700 million people out of poverty.
“Unless the poor is not lifted up; the rule of law is not ensured; the big cartels, sugar mafias and big thieves are not put behind the bars, this country has no future,” he added.
He said that next time if he come in power, he would encourage overseas Pakistan to invest in the country through which the country would not be in need of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan.
Khan once again accused the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC), Sikander Sultan Raja, of siding with the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), saying no elections under him will be acceptable.
“Things will be even worse if these people are allowed to rule the country any longer…the only solution to resolve the issues confronting the country is: free and fair polls and not the ones like Punjab by-polls which we won despite all the rigging, and the rigged Sindh LG polls,” he added.
In an obvious reference to the military, he said that he had warned the people to stop the foreign conspiracy or the rulers with billions of rupees’ graft cases against them would not be able to control the economy, as the country had been put on the right track after great efforts.
The PTI chief insisted that the country had the right economic indicators when he was in power, adding we were on a fast pace on the agriculture front with all four bumper crops witnessing progress.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022