MALAKAND: Prime Minister Imran Khan Sunday warned the estranged lawmakers of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) of dire consequences if they ‘sold their conscience’ and cast vote against the party line in National Assembly in no-trust motion.
“Return to the party’s fold … I am ready to forgive you like a ‘compassionate father’,” said Imran Khan while addressing a public gathering in Dargai – a small town in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa’s Malaknad district.
Khan said if the dissident MPs did not return to the party, they should be ready to face social boycott.
“People will not trust you… youth are aware of whatever happening in the country. This is the age of social media where it is difficult to hide anything,” he said.
“People will forever dub you as people who sold their conscience … Your offspring would be unable to find spouses and they would be ridiculed at school,” he remarked.
“You are destroying the future of your children by accepting this money,” he said, adding that the “Changa Manga” politics was not possible today.
PM Imran said that the people knew the faces of the “three stooges” from the opposition – Asif Ali Zardari, Shehbaz Sharif and Maulana Fazlur Rehman – who had been “stealing” for years and facing corruption cases.
The premier maintained that he was asked by the party members to bring back the dissenting lawmakers by “buying them off” using government’s resources. “If the government was to be saved by plundering nation’s wealth or by compromising on conscience than I curse such government,” the premier said.
“The veil has been lifted from the eyes of the nation,” PM Imran said, adding that opposition leaders would “badly lose this match” against him.
The prime minister said that a “decisive moment” has arrived in the country’s history, asking the people to choose between “dacoits of Pakistan” or those striving to end the menace of corruption in the country.
Referring to opposition parties, the prime minister claimed that they had been offering bribes to the lawmakers to switch loyalty and party affiliations with their ill-gotten wealth.
He said those legislators who had been elected to safeguard public interests had “sold out” their conscience for wealth. “They not only sold out their country and nation but also their faith.”
The prime minister said the judiciary, Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), and the nation, especially the youth were observing the situation.
“It is being called a democracy,” the prime minister sarcastically alluded to the statements of the opposition parties.
The prime minister while sharing his experience of life in the United Kingdom said that he had never heard of the members of parliament selling their loyalties as they had strong democratic values and political insight. They never thought of such tactics.
In Sindh House, bags of money were distributed among the members of the parliament, he claimed, likening it to a “funeral of democracy”.
The prime minister said it was an obligation for the nation to stand up and raise its voice against such tactics.
PM Imran, in today’s speech, also lauded India for having an “independent foreign policy” that was favourable to its own people. He maintained that like India – which imported oil from Russia despite American sanctions and despite being an ally of the US – his foreign policy would also favour the interest of people of Pakistan.
“I haven’t bowed before anyone and will not let my nation bow either,” Imran said.
The premier maintained that he said “absolutely not” to the European Union envoy who sought Pakistan’s support against Russia in the Russia-Ukraine conflict because “they broke protocol by making the request”. He added that Pakistan would have gained nothing by complying with the EU’s request.
“We became part of America’s war against terror in Afghanistan and lost 80,000 people and $100 billion,” he said, asking Shehbaz Sharif what did Pakistan gained from the war on terror.
The prime minister emphasised that he was not like Shehbaz who “polished boots when he saw a white man in a suit”.
“I was a free man when I read the kalma, I took an oath that I will not bow before anyone but God,” PM Imran reiterated, claiming that his foreign policy would favour his people.
He maintained that the “hypocrites” – referring to the opposition – would never stand for their nation because they “worship money”. According to the premier, the nation would never progress if it remained a “slave” to the world’s superpowers, and would only prosper when it stood on its own feet.
“For these 3.5 years (of the PTI government) we have only tried to help Pakistan prosper,” PM Imran said, adding that no government had done what the PTI government had.
