Prime Minister Imran Khan on Sunday asked former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and his other family members, residing in the United Kingdom, to return home and face trials as judiciary in the country was fully independent.
Addressing a mammoth public gathering held in connection with Azad Jammu and Kashmir upcoming general elections on 25th July, the premier said that it was his dream to put the country on the right path and this is the only way through which it can be developed.
Seeing a large number of people without observing standard operating procedures against Covid-19 pandemic, PM Imran appealed the people to continue wearing mask and observing SOPs to prevent spread of the virus.
“You all are standing very close together. I fear that I will hear later that many coronavirus cases emerged due to this rally,” he said.
He said that the pandemic has yet not been over and we will have to continue observing SOPs to protect ourselves and others form coronavirus.
The premier also lauded the spirit and determination of the crowd gathered, receiving a loud roar in response.
“A large portion of my life was spent playing cricket under the sun. Sitting on the stage here I felt my clothes drenched in sweat. So when I look at all of you packed here together, I wish to pay special tribute to all of your determination,” he said.
PM Imran said that he thinks of the future of the people of the country, especially the youth. “I want our country to be such that when one travels with the Pakistani passport they should be admired. The world should look at us with respect. The green passport should be respect. We should become a great nation,” he said.
Speaking of the Arabian peninsula at the time of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him), he said that there were two superpowers then, and the Arabs “had no standing” in society.
“They were bedouins and poor,” he said, adding that history bears witness that after Muslims migrated to Medina, one superpower knelt before the Muslims and after 14 years, another followed.
“The Arabs whom no one even looked upon, ended up ruling the world. What was the reason?”
He further said that Muslims have been directed to follow the teachings of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) and they will always achieve greatness if they do this.
“I want our nation to become a great nation. Unfortunately, we went off track. We began asking for aid and entering into other people’s wars. We brought destruction upon our own people. We lost our respect.
“No one respects a person who asks for alms and loans. You can test this out yourself,” PM Imran.
He said that even if a person asks his parents or siblings for money repeatedly, they began looking at the person differently.
“No ones respects a country that does not stand on its own two feet,” he said.
The premier went on to say that a person who is truthful and just is respected the world over. He said that if there is one leader he respects it is Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah. “Even his opponents viewed him as an honest and just man. They respected him despite being his opponents.”
PM Imran said that the country needs to change its ways. “We must adopt honesty and trustworthiness. Look at your own area. Look at Bhimber. Villages and cities all respect the man who is honest and just. This is a person’s nature (to be drawn towards such people). This is God-given.”
The premier said that when people go to the polls on July 25, they must ask themselves, if the party they are voting for has a leader that is honest and just.
“Or is he one who lied to the nation, acted well enough to rival Bollywood standards […] so much so that the women in our cabinet began crying after looking at his face?” the premier asked.
The prime minister was referring to PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif who was allowed by the courts to go to London on medical grounds.
“We were afraid. Will he even be able to climb the stairs of the airplane?” remarked the prime minister.
“He left as one Nawaz Sharif and turned into a completely different man in London,” he added.
The prime minister asked the youth to ask themselves this: “When the courts of Pakistan are free, when Imran Khan does not attack the Supreme Court armed with sticks, when Imran Khan does not pick up the phone and tell the judge to give a convict five years instead of three, when Lahore High Court is not controlled by the PTI and is free, then why have they run away abroad? Who are they afraid of?”
He went on to state that the PML-N “crony” Ishaq Dar is sitting abroad, and has been since even before PTI came into power, his sons are abroad, Nawaz Sharif’s sons have also fled abroad, so have Shehbaz Sharif’s son in law and son. “Who are you afraid of? The courts are independent.”
The prime minister said that if the courts were not free, if the government controlled the National Accountability Bureau, two PTI ministers would not have been jailed.
PM Imran asks Nawaz Sharif and family to face independent judiciary
