Former prime minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan said on Friday that the country is facing an unprecedented economic challenge today while "the thieves" were getting their corruption cases worth billions of rupees closed, Aaj News reported.

The former premier made these remarks while addressing a Rule of Law Conference via video link.

The PTI chief said that today, there was a rule of a powerful elite, not law in the country, adding that the law was torn into shreds since the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) came into power.

“No precedent for the looters being installed as the nation’s rulers exists in Western democracies; such a thing is unthinkable,” Imran said, adding that soon as they assumed office, the rulers took the initial step to resolve their corruption issues.

Imran said that the rule of law provided a level playing field to every citizen and that around 0.7 million people left Pakistan owing to the depressing macro situation.

Speaking of the NAB cases, the former premier asserted that Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa (Retired) was making decisions in the cases brought by the NAB against the current rulers.

Imran, however, hoped that the prevalence of rule of law could overcome the economic challenges.

He urged the lawyers’ community to play their role in establishing the rule of law in the country, adding that Pakistan had no future otherwise.