ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan said on Wednesday that he was aware of the “conspiracy” to oust his government, but he never imagined that they would appoint Shehbaz Sharif as the prime minister.
Addressing a seminar on ‘Regime Change Conspiracy and Pakistan’s Destabilization’, he said that the measures being taken today would lead the country toward destruction as a “circus” is going on in Punjab and the judiciary now had immense responsibility.
PTI Chairman said that the parties in the coalition government were “afraid” he would appoint Lieutenant General Faiz Hameed as the next chief of army staff.
“They were afraid that I wanted to appoint Lt Gen Faiz. They feared that if that would have happened then it would shatter their future”, he added.
The ousted prime minister said the incumbent rulers are “afraid of the army and the Inter-Services Intelligence” as they know that their “corruption” will be caught at some point.
“Imran Khan does not want to save his corruption, he does not want to appoint his army chief,” said the PTI leader.
He berated the incumbent rulers for allegedly “murdering the institutions” and appointing “their people” to every institution.
Moving on to the “regime change conspiracy”, Khan said that the United States does not change regimes for a country’s betterment. It only does that for its interests, not ours, he added.
He said that in the past, the United States used Pakistan for the “war on terror”, resulting in heavy casualties to Islamabad, while its air bases were also used for drone attacks.
“Our interest is that our soil is not used against Afghanistan or any other country. America wanted us to accept India’s demands. It wanted us to forget Kashmir and accept Israel,” he said.
Khan said US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Donald Lu “arrogantly threatened” Pakistan, so can a “sovereign nation” accept such threats.
Khan said he was aware of the “conspiracy” to oust his government. “People ask me if I knew about it, then why I didn’t do anything. Well, I never imagined that they would appoint Shehbaz Sharif as the prime minister.”
Khan, addressing the “neutrals”, said Shehbaz has been booked in corruption cases worth Rs16 billion.
Talking to the participants of the seminar, former finance minister Shaukat Tarin said the government was formed not for providing relief to the people, but to get the rulers “freedom from NAB (National Accountability Bureau).”
In a scathing attack on the government, Tarin said it is so “incompetent” that later this month, a mini-budget is expected — after it reaches an agreement with the International Monetary Fund.
In his address to the seminar, PTI Senior Vice President Fawad Chaudhry said Energy Minister Khurram Dastagir has admitted in a television programme that the coalition government came into power to end their cases.
Senior PTI leader Shireen Mazari said a “conspiracy” was hatched against the Khan-led government, leading to its ouster two months back.
“First there was a conspiracy and then they [foreign powers] interfered,” she said, slamming the government for “proposing” talks and friendship with New Delhi.
