LAHORE: Former Prime Minister and Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan has claimed that General Bajwa asked him to condemn Russia after he had convinced Putin to sell Pakistan cheap fuel and wheat.
Addressing intellectuals, religious scholars and students in a televised address from his Zaman Park residence on Monday, the former premier said he went to Russia and convinced President Vladimir Putin to give wheat and fuel at cheaper rates to Pakistan as being supplied to India.
“I told the former army chief that India, which is a strategic ally of the US, was staying neutral and Pakistan should also not get involved in the war between two countries,” Khan said and added that to his surprise, the former army chief himself condemned Russia at a security seminar “to appease the US”.
He said that with the support of Russia, India reduced its inflation from 7.5 per cent to 5.5pc, but Pakistan’s inflation rate rose from 12pc to 30pc.
The former premier added that although Pakistan was designed to be an Islamic welfare state, its successive leaders ignored the rule of law, which is a prerequisite for democracy and economic growth in the nation, in order to further their own personal agendas.
According to Mr. Khan, the current situation calls for new elections to be held within 90 days of the dissolution of the parliament, but all state institutions are using flimsy justifications like a lack of funding to postpone elections, which would be a flagrant violation of the Constitution.
The PTI chairman alleged the past rulers had violated Pakistan’s sovereignty by focusing only on looting national wealth and then getting NROs to protect their loot.
“No system was allowed to prevail in Pakistan that could bring the powerful under the law and protect the fundamental rights of the weak,” he said.
Mr. Khan used Singapore as an example, claiming that after punishing its corrupt ministers and exchequer-looters, the island nation’s per capita income soared to $60,000.
Pakistan’s per capita income dropped to $2,000 as a result of the system’s protection of powerful looters and criminals, he added.
The former premier claimed that his governmnet’s introduction of the health card, which provided high-quality medical care at both public and private hospitals up to Rs. 1 million, became a significant social safety net for the underprivileged in Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Islamabad, and other northern regions.
“It is a matter of grave concern that the incumbent PDM government rolled it [health card] back,” he alleged.
