ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman and former premier Imran Khan on Tuesday alleged that the incumbent government has compromised the national security by getting economic assistance from abroad, saying that “there is no free lunch”.
“They are begging abroad and the way they are getting the assistance, as I had said earlier, there is no free lunch. No one will help you without getting anything in return and they are demanding something from you. To please them (the countries giving assistance to Pakistan), they (the government) have compromised our national security,” Khan alleged during a live statement on the television channels after chairing PTI’s political committee meeting.
The former premier also reiterated his criticism of the “neutrals”, saying that he had cautioned them against the imminent political and economic crisis if the PTI government was ousted.
“They first conspired by creating political crisis and destabilized the country which was followed by the economic crisis which is not in their control now…Once again, I want to clarify that I myself and then also asked Shaukat Tarin (his former finance minister) to tell the “neutrals” that well they’re becoming “neutral”, but the country would pay a huge price of the political destabilization, (to be followed by the ouster of the PTI government), as I knew that they would not be able to control,” he maintained.
Khan also floated a proposal to stabilise the country’s economy, saying that there is only one solution, i.e., bring the money “looted by the Sharifs and the Zardaris” back to the country.
Referring to the Turn Around Conference (TAC) organised by Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal with the objective of gathering the nation together to find solutions to the country’s current socio-economic issues, he asked the minister to stop staging a “drama”.
“You (the government) can steer the country out of the crisis by even bringing half of Sharifs and Zardaris’ ‘looted money’ back to the country from abroad,” he said.
Besides, he further stated that an early election is also equally important to ensure political and economic stability in the country.
Khan accused the current rulers of giving themselves NRO in Rs1,100 billion corruption cases against them through the amendments in the NAB laws, besides, damaging the institutions such as the FIA, the NAB, the Civil Service, and the police.
The PTI chairman claimed that the only reason all the various political parties got together and staged a long march was to topple the PTI government so that they could get themselves an NRO.
He said that they are now angry at the government because they had been talking about inflation as the sole reason to topple the PTI government. “But what happened during the last two and a half months that inflation went to a record high, the economy is on a downward trend, the rupee is devaluing, the stock market is showing a downward trend,” he said, adding that the industrial sector, agriculture sector, and the services sector which were all showing growth, but all of them are now on a downward trend. He maintained that even the IMF said Pakistan’s economy was on the right path during the PTI government.
He also questioned as to why the load shedding started soon after the ouster of his government, adding that the government has no money for generating electricity from coal or from the LNG due to which the plants are shut and the people have to face hours long load shedding.
“Through concerted efforts, you conspired together with those abroad and at home, (and) together with ‘traitors’ you conspired for this (ouster of the PTI government). But the people are asking you a question when you came through the conspiracy and now saying that Imran Khan is responsible for today’s inflation and the crisis. If we had done this, then we should have been allowed to continue and we would have taken responsibility for this,” he said.
He added that his government was also under the IMF programme during the three and a half years. “Was IMF not asking us to increase the oil prices?” he asked, adding that the IMF was demanding to increase fuel and electricity prices, but his government did not bow down to the pressure and continued negotiations.
He said that inflation is sky-high in Pakistan during the tenure of the incumbent coalition government, adding that PTI is now being blamed for the present turmoil.
He said that inflation has taken over the country due to the wrong policies of the PML-N-led coalition government, adding that the people are protesting against the record inflation and increasing load shedding while the government is using force against peaceful protestors.
The PTI chairman said that the country’s economy is worsening with every passing day after the ouster of the PTI government through a “foreign conspiracy”.
He reiterated that fair and transparent general elections are the only solution to steer the country out of the prevailing crisis. He said that he has never seen a more partial Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) in his life.
Terming Hamza Shehbaz, an “illegal chief minister” of Punjab, Imran Khan claimed efforts are under way for rigging the Punjab bye-polls to ensure the rule of Hamza government.
Inviting people to attend a peaceful protest on Saturday evening in Islamabad, Imran Khan said he will lead the peaceful protest himself. He said that a peaceful protest is the right of every citizen and lambasted the government for its action on May 25 against the PTI protesters.
He further stated that they cannot control the people through the use of force, adding that inflation will further increase in July and people will continue to take to the streets.
Imran Khan warned the police to avoid taking unlawful actions against the PTI workers, adding that those who have already committed unlawful actions are on our record and will face the consequences.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022
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