Imran says his party would 'sweep elections', reiterates call for immediate polls

KARACHI: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman and former prime minister Imran Khan claimed on Tuesday that his party would sweep the general elections, confidently stating that this was going to be the case even without campaigning for support as "opinions and by-polls" were sufficient proof of this.

“We do not even need campaigning to win the elections,” he said while addressing the audience virtually in a seminar on 'Economic Performance and Challenges Ahead' at the Beach Luxury Hotel, Karachi.

“The dismal state of affairs by the current setup will aggravate with the passage of time and I fear that the situation will deteriorate to a point that it will be difficult for any government to address them," he said, reiterating his call for immediate elections.

Imran is currently sitting out of a 'long march', dubbed the 'Haqeeqi Azadi March' by his political party, that is looking to pressure authorities into calling early elections. Currently recovering from wounds to his leg due to what he termed as an assassination attempt on his life, Imran is scheduled to re-join PTI's march on November 26.

His call for elections come after he was ousted as prime minister in April, a development he repeatedly claims was a "foreign conspiracy" in which Washington and the country's military were involved. Both Washington and Pakistan Army have denied these accusations.

However, on Tuesday, Imran repeated that he told "neutrals" not to opt for a "regime change during the commodities super-cycle that was haunting the world in early 2022" in wake of the Russian-Ukraine conflict.

"I sent Shaukat Tarin (then finance minister) to tell the 'neutrals' not to facilitate a regime change amid the global commodities super-cycle."

"We had warned them (neutrals) that political instability will aggravate issues for Pakistan's fragile economy and now, we have been proven correct. The situation has become worse."

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The PTI chief expressed confidence that PTI will sweep next general elections following the dismal performance of the current leadership. "The opinion polls and by-elections have shown that PTI will win," he said.

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Imran claimed that immediate free and fair elections were needed for political stability “else no one will invest in Pakistan”.

"I have maintained excellent relations with overseas Pakistanis over the past 30 years. They helped build the Shaukat Khanum Hospital and Namal University. They are refraining to invest in Pakistan because of uncertainty and instability."

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Imran said that no one will invest in the country unless it is certain that they will earn on their investment. The PM opined that certainty will come solely through the rule of law.

He also said that if Pakistan convinces expats to invest, then the country will not need anyone else.

The former cricket legend said that the country has powerful mafias that hinder the government from taking steps that are in the best interest of Pakistan.

"Our economic issues are directly related to rule of law," the former PM said. "The mafias didn’t let us introduce technological advancements in the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) which would have increased tax collection. The procedure was sabotaged from the inside."

He stated that the real estate cartel was far powerful than sugar and cement mafias.

"You cannot even imagine how powerful this mafia is."

He said that he was told by Lahore Development Authority (LDA) officials that Rs200 billion worth of land was sold illegally.

"This area covered river bed and irrigation and forest land and the money earned by selling the plots has been laundered out of the country,” he said.

Even the LDA was unable to do anything because the mafia registered FIRs against its officials and harassed them when they tried to recover the land.

"(Real estate mafia) bribed a lot of departments as it has a massive amount of money. This has been happening at every level."

He claimed that when the PTI government digitised real estate mapping of Islamabad, it revealed encroachment on Rs1,200 billion worth of government land.

"This is the case with entire Pakistan and not just Islamabad."

Meanwhile, he said that the biggest challenge faced by his government in 2018 was the current account deficit. The former PM stressed that Pakistan must increase exports if it wanted to exit the boom and bust cycle.

"There is no way (to exit this problem) other than to increase exports. The entire mindset has to change and exports have to become Pakistan's top priority.”

The PTI chief admitted that his government was wrong to offer across-the-board amnesty schemes and added that it should have given it solely for investment in industries.

He said that his government should have purchased oil from Russia similar to India.

"I do not know why the current government fears America this much. America would have been convinced that we have an immense need for cheap oil to address our energy-driven inflation."