ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan Tuesday said the opposition’s no-trust motion against his government would not only doom but would also pave way for their complete elimination in the upcoming 2023 general elections.
Addressing a conference of overseas Pakistanis, the prime minister expressed his gratitude to the opposition parties for bringing the no-confidence motion against him in the parliament as it had not only stirred all the ranks and files of his party across the country, but also helped the people realize the inner self-centered motives of ‘three stooges’.
“They have fallen to their own trap. I predict, they will not only fail in their no-trust motion but also lose the 2023 elections,” he added. The prime minister sarcastically pointed out that the opposition parties had made the people to forget the prices of tomatoes and potatoes. “Look at the faces of these three stooges, on one side, the people saw Nawaz and Shehbaz Sharif, and on the other side, Asif Zardari and Fazlur Rehman. Now all the people are heading towards Islamabad to attend the PTI’s gathering,” he added.
Terming the no-trust move ‘a special favour from Allah Almighty’, he said he was fed up with the opposition parties’ oft-repeated chorus over the fate of his government. The prime minister said now he was fully focused on ‘these three thieves’ as they did not know the nation. But the nation knew it very well how Nawaz Sharif was pampered by former General Jillani, while Shehbaz Sharif delivered fruits baskets and Zardari assumed leadership of the party by selling tickets. Imran Khan challenged the opposition parties to rival the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) in any sector with performance as they would miserably fail. In the past, he said, the leadership of three parties had accused one another over corruption and framed graft cases.
It was a Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader, who had named Fazlur Rehman as ‘diesel’ because of minting money through the sale of diesel permits. “If these leaders have to save the country, the people will prefer drowning with Imran Khan rather than going with them,” he added. He said the global inflation had hit economies of all the countries alike but in Pakistan, his government was making efforts to reduce the burden of price hike on the masses. The prime minister, while lauding the contributions of overseas Pakistanis for the country’s economy, said he had close contacts links with them and realized their issues.
The expatriates always felt pain when they saw their motherland lagging behind from other countries in terms of progress and development. They were tormented to experience that their previous leaders lived in palatial houses in expensive areas of London, roamed in luxurious vehicles, and enjoyed casinos, he added. The overseas Pakistanis sent remittances to Pakistan after toiling abroad, but the past rulers plundered their hard-earned money to secure their luxurious lifestyle, he said, adding such acts also brought bad name to the country. Two families stashed away billions of dollars in the foreign banks.
The prime minister, in a veiled reference to the Obama-Sharif meeting, said former prime minister Nawaz Sharif kept on trembling with fears that his words might not turn the US president angry. Such leadership could sell out Pakistan for the sake of their corruption and petty interests, he said and referred to an Indian journalist Burkha Dutt’s book that claimed that Nawaz Sharif held a secret meeting with Indian Prime Minister Modi.
About the Memogate scandal, he said Pakistan’s former ambassador to the US Hussain Haqqani was tasked to convey a message to Washington to save Zardari from the army. Similarly, the objective of the ‘Dawn leaks’ was a futile attempt by Nawaz Sharif to blame the armed forces of Pakistan. Modi had been falsely blaming former army chief general Raheel Sharif whereas Nawaz Sharif was inviting him to marriage ceremonies.
The prime minister expressed that the armed forces of Pakistan were fully capable of defending the country. During the ten years of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and PML-N rule, he said, about 400 drone attacks were recorded on Pakistan’s territory. They never felt ashamed that Pakistan had been fighting their war and bracing the drone attacks in return.
“Not a single international law allows such act of ‘judge, jury, and execution’, the prime minister said, adding due to that war on terror, the country suffered 80,000 casualties, besides 3.5 million people were displaced. He said he had never been anti to any country, including the US and the UK, because one could not be anti towards the people of any particular country. “You can be against certain policies pursued by a country,” he said while insisting upon his opposition to the US-led war on terror.
He further said that he also participated in a demonstration in the US against the invasion of Iraq. The prime minister said unless India revoked its controversial and unilateral steps of August 5, 2019 on the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK), no dialogue could be held. In India, the Hindutva ideology was being opposed by the learned segments of society, but in the presence of fascists, the people were facing the worst persecution, he added.