PESHAWAR: Former Prime Minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman on Monday demanded the Supreme Court (SC) of Pakistan to explain on what basis PTI’s long march was stopped from coming to Islamabad and ensure that it would not happen in the future.
He was addressing PTI’s lawyers’ convention in Peshawar.
Khan explained that getting a favorable ruling from the Supreme Court would be one strategy. If not, he added that as part of their alternate strategy, long marchers would come prepared this time and remove all obstacles in their path.
He claimed that all previous governments in Pakistan were removed because of corruption with the exception of the PTI-led one.
“Since our government was not removed due to corruption, people took to the streets instead of distributing sweets.” He added.
He said that the current political milieu of the country was posing a real challenge for the judiciary as well as the lawyers in the country.
“I, therefore, want the lawyer’s community to support me as they and the judiciary as a whole play an important role in saving the country,” he said.
During the speech, Khan once again criticised the incumbent government and blamed it for conspiring with the United States to oust him.
The PTI chairman then went on to explain how US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Donald Lu threatened the Pakistani ambassador to the US and detailed how, according to him, the PTI-led government was removed from power by the then opposition.
Praising this government’s performance, the ex-PM claimed that Pakistan performed better in the last two years in the economic sector as compared to the past. “The country grew economically by 5.6% in 2021 and 6% in 2022,” said Khan, adding that the country achieved record tax collection targets during his tenure.
Talking about the Masjid-e-Nabawi (PBUH) incident, Khan said that the current government was “cursed by Allah to the point that people, even when they were present at a holy place, couldn’t stop themselves from chanting slogans against these corrupt leaders.”
“What was our [PTI’s] fault if ordinary people chanted slogans against these people in Madinah?” the former premier questioned.
He ruled out impression of a deal behind calling off the long march and reiterated the reason behind the move. Khan said the people were furious, and he feared that there could be clashes between the security personnel and PTI workers.
PTI chairman said he did not want people to develop more hatred against the police and paramilitary Rangers who did shelling.
Therefore, the former prime minister demanded the top court to explain on what basis they were stopped from coming to Islamabad and ensure that it would not happen in the future. “Supreme Court should give the ruling to us. I have to give a date [for another long march] to the people,” Imran Khan said.
Referring to the Sharif family, PTI chairman said the Sicilian Mafia would only frighten people to consolidate its rule and hamper protests, adding that this mafia could either ‘purchase’ people or ‘eliminate’ them. He expressed that it was his experience that the more coward a person is, the crueler he is.
He recalled that the display of ‘barbarism’ by the government on participants of the long march was not even seen in the Musharraf’s era during the Lawyers Movement.
He said a country cannot progress without the rule of law, adding that the lawyers and judiciary have the responsibility to uphold it.
Referring to an interview of an FIA official, he said a prosecutor namely Zulqarnain confessed that he was stopped from prosecution in Sharif family cases. “I wonder who stopped him when I was the chief executive.”
He recalled the investigators of FIA were removed by the ‘corrupt’ mafia as it came into power and some suffered heart attacks due to pressure. He said such conduct of the rulers would only help destroy the country.
He praised the Supreme Court for directly overseeing the corruption cases involving the Sharif family, suggesting that the jails should be opened, and small thieves should be set free if the ‘big fish’ were to face no action.
He said India, which is a strategic ally of the US, is purchasing cheap oil from Russia but lamented that this was made impossible in Pakistan through a US-backed conspiracy.
He said Pakistan is going through a ‘decisive moment’, adding that Allah Almighty would judge the people with their capacity of doing things.
PTI chairman said morality is the basis of democracy in the West, adding that doing away with it would leave no essence in the democracy.
This, he termed, was the primary reason people distributed sweets after martial laws were imposed by toppling democratic governments in the past as they were corrupt.
However, he said the history changed this time when people came out to protest when the PTI government was ousted.
Imran Khan said the past governments were subdued by the foreign powers and did not utter a word about the drone strikes in the tribal areas, adding that integral part of his foreign policy was a ‘no comprise’ on the interests of the country.
He said the former dictator Pervez Musharraf should not have bowed before the US and must have asked why Pakistan should become part of a foreign war.
