ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chief Imran Khan on Thursday said that they will show the nation the road to real independence in their August 13 gathering in Lahore, ARY News reported.
Addressing the participants of a convention organized on the occasion of world minorities day PTI Chief Imran Khan said that a small elite has taken over the country. Their fight is against this elite, which thinks it is above the law, he added.
The former Premier said that real justice means that the poor and the rich should be treated equally by the law. No country can progress without justice, it is what separates humans from other animals, he added.
Meanwhile, Imran Khan said on Wednesday the government of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had hatched a “conspiracy” to pit his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party against the country’s army.
Imran Khan’s comments come after his chief of staff, Dr. Shahbaz Gill, was arrested on Tuesday over comments in a TV show advising army officers not to follow the orders of their top command if they were “against the sentiments of the masses.” The government and the national media regulator, PEMRA, have said the remarks were tantamount to inciting mutiny within the Pakistan army. The TV channel on which Gill made the comments, ARY News, has also since been taken off air by PEMRA.
The PTI chairman also raised concerns over rumours of a “deal between Pakistan and the West over using the country’s airspace”, warning that any such thing would only lead to further destruction and loss of life in the country.
“If we have made such a deal, I want to say this again […] we helped in the past […] after that, we were used, we were sanctioned […] we received threats and the nation paid a huge price.”
He went on that if Pakistan became a part of “that agenda again just a few dollars”, the result would be the same. “We will get trapped in a conflict again […] the loss will be more and the benefit less.”
Imran also highlighted the rise in activities by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in the northern areas. “They are targeting and threatening PTI ministers there,” he said, adding that this seemed like another conspiracy to weaken the party.
In a press conference on Wednesday, Khan dismissed claims his party was against the military, and said the impression was being created as part of a “plot” to decimate the PTI. He also did not distance his party from, or condemn, the comments by Gill.
“The party is at the federal level, it is in all the provinces, the largest vote bank is of this party … it is the largest party in Pakistan right now,” Khan said in a televised address. “A conspiracy is being hatched and it is being hatched by those people who are involved in the foreign conspiracy, collaborators … It is being portrayed that we and the army are against each other.”
He added: “This conspiracy is so dangerous that if we try to pit the largest political party of a country against its army and it creates differences within, nothing else can harm the country as much.”
Khan then gave the example of 1971 when, as per his account, differences between the largest political party in East Pakistan at the time and the country’s military led to a war that saw the break-up of Pakistan and the creation of Bangladesh.
In his address on Wednesday, Imran said that a “frightening conspiracy” was being devised to present “Pakistan’s biggest political party and the army as opponents”.
“Let me tell you […] this plot is extremely dangerous and can damage the country,” he said, recalling that when the PTI came to power, the coalition government was “pained” to see his relationship with the army.
“This Nawaz and Zardari who are calling us traitors today went on international platforms and gave interviews against the army,” the PTI chief said and then went on to play clips of the coalition leaders’ past statements.
“Today, it’s being said that we are against the army and now they’ve become the patriots who are calling us traitors.”
Imran continued that all of it was being done to break the party because “right now PTI, on both federal and provincial levels has the biggest voter bank in the country”.
“And the first tactic they have used is in front of you […] the foreign funding case.”
He claimed that the case was baseless. “They are just trying to show that the money we collected from overseas Pakistanis is illegal. They are accusing the party that collected money from fundraising and has credible audit reports.”
For the past four to five years, courts have been saying that audits of the funds of all the political parties should be conducted, Imran said.
“But the ECP (Election Commission of Pakistan) knows that these parties raised money illegally and this is the reason why it won’t investigate them,” the former prime minister claimed, adding that the day the matter was investigated by courts, it would be proven that “only PTI raised money lawfully in Pakistan”.
He added that the same was being done in the Toshakhana Reference, saying that all the past prime ministers and presidents and people appointed to higher ranks got gifts, including the army chief.
“Investigate all of them,” Imran demanded, claiming that both cases were being used to disqualify him.
The PTI chairman maintained that his party had always thought about Pakistan at every juncture. He said the PTI possessed the street power to “shut down the entire country” but current economic conditions were such that everyone should worry about them.
“Even when we demonstrate, it is peaceful. Tell us of any single incident where we did vandalism or tried to harm the country.”
Talking about Gill’s arrest, Imran said that no action was taken against PML-N leaders Nawaz Sharif, Maryam Nawaz, and others when they spoke against the army.
“What Shahbaz Gill said, if it was against the law, it’s very easy […] the law and Constitution should tell the procedure [to be initiated against Gill]
“But breaking his car’s mirrors and attacking his driver is unjustified,” he deplored, adding that Gill should have at least been given a chance to justify his statements in court.
Attempts of character assassination
The former prime minister also said that attempts were being made to assassinate his character and “trap him in cases”.
“They know which media houses will cooperate with them […] that are run on money […] they will cooperate with people and assassinate my character.”
Imran went on that after news channels, the government would approach social media influencers and YouTubers and force them to “humiliate me publicly”.
“This action that they have taken against ARY News is also part of that plan,” he alleged, adding that any channel or social media platform that supports PTI’s narrative would be taken down in the upcoming days.
But, Imran cautioned that “all these processes and breakdown will only damage the country”. “Whoever is doing this planning, is it good for Pakistan? […] Pakistan needs political stability the most at this time.”
He also alleged that there were attempts to bring about a situation for Nawaz’s return and stand him on equal footing as the PTI chief as both being disqualified so they should be allowed to contest elections.
The PTI chief further expressed the fear that the country was being taken to that point where it would have to compromise on its national security to escape the situation.
He said there was only one way out of the current situation, fair and free elections.