- Endorses Swati’s tweet, says ‘everyone knows who gave NRO’
- Accuses media of turning a blind eye towards economic matters
LAHORE: Former prime minister and PTI Chairman Imran Khan on Sunday accused former army chief General (retd) Qamar Javed Bajwa of giving “NRO-2” to the cabal of thieves and imposing them on the nation and country.
“Gen (r) Musharraf granted the first and now the second one was given by the one who was in power,” he said while addressing a press conference in Lahore.
اس قوم نے NRO-1 کی بھاری قیمت چکائی ہے۔ ان دو مجرم خاندانوں اور انکےحواریوں کی لوٹ مار نے دس برس میں ہمارا قرض چار گنا بڑھا دیا۔ NRO 2 تو اس سے بھی بڑھ کر شرمناک ہے! #چورسلیمان_شہبازکوگرفتارکرو
pic.twitter.com/JQtzEZcpzY— PTI (@PTIofficial) December 11, 2022
He regretted on the one hand, one by one all thieves were getting relief in corruption cases and getting themselves exonerated from corruption charges while on the other hand, a 70 years old Senator is being victimized for a tweet against army chief. “You will never find such an example of injustice in the world.”
Speaking about the return of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s son Suleman Shehbaz, Imran Khan said: “one by one all thieves will get relief in corruption cases and get themselves exonerated from corruption charges”. “After Ishaq Dar, now he [Suleman Shehbaz] will be dry-cleaned.”
Imran condemned the treatment being meted out to Azam Swati over his controversial tweets against the state institutions and military officials.
“He [Swati] was arrested just for saying General Bajwa gave NRO to thieves… the entire Pakistan knows that he [Gen Bajwa] gave NRO-2,” he remarked.
The PTI chief said in civilised societies a sitting senator cannot be “tortured or stripped naked” just for sharing his opinion. “You can deny his [Swati’s] claim,” he added.
Default risk, media oblivion
The PTI chairman assailed the PDM government for bringing the country to the cusp of default, and accused the media of turning a blind eye towards economic matters and instead focusing on the Toshakhana wrist watch, which he said was rightfully his to “sell or do whatever I want to with it”.
آج شدید مہنگائی ہے لیکن میڈیا چینلز اور صحافی برادری چپ ہے-@ImranKhanPTI pic.twitter.com/shMy5MtKO2
— PTI (@PTIofficial) December 11, 2022
He made these remarks at a press conference in Lahore where he began by comparing his government’s performance with that of the incumbent PDM setup, whom he blamed for the looming threat of default.
“The reason of my media talk today is to make the people aware of the direction that our country is heading in,” he said. “If we don’t raise our voice then Pakistan will experience something it has never before and we are going to default. All the funding from abroad will be stopped.
“A default would mean the country’s income in dollars has stopped, and then the rupee will devalue further. The cabal of crooks imposed on us don’t care about any of this. They have been stealing money for the last 30 years. They have stashed huge amounts of money abroad.”
Imran said that the ruling elite does not “care if the country defaults because their money is stashed abroad in the form of dollars”. “But the circumstance of a default is worrying for the common man,” he added.
“A default will be a very big loss for Pakistan. No investment will come back into Pakistan. No overseas Pakistani will be willing to invest in Pakistan.”
ہماری حکومت میں ڈالر کا ریٹ 178 روپے کا تھا آج اوپن مارکیٹ میں 250 کا بھی ڈالر نہیں مل رہا آج افیشل ریٹ 224 روپے ملک میں 250 روپے کا بھی ڈالر نہیں مل رہا-@ImranKhanPTI pic.twitter.com/Aw31g6ebHJ
— PTI (@PTIofficial) December 11, 2022
He recalled that dollar rate was Rs178 when he was ousted as the prime minister. “Today we cant even purchase dollar for Rs250.”
“In all the 5 years of PMLN’s government our exports were declining, even now exports have started downward trend”-@ImranKhanPTI pic.twitter.com/q0ZkvyDwcH
— PTI (@PTIofficial) December 11, 2022
The PTI chief claimed that when he came into power in 2018, he had inherited a fragile economy but had turned it around, only to see his work undone by the present setup.
“For the first time in many years Pakistan had a GDP growth of 6% for 2 consecutive years, this was the time when our government was ousted through regime change”-@ImranKhanPTI pic.twitter.com/4UBshOUj3b
— PTI (@PTIofficial) December 11, 2022
“When we got Pakistan [government] in 2018, we had the largest current account deficit,” he said. “When our government was ousted, the GDP growth was at six per cent. These figures are usually only seen during martial laws of Ayub, Zia and Musharraf. This was because [during their eras] we were receiving dollars from the US.
“They didn’t make any dams but we made six dams, out of which two were massive. We launched the health card that was praised by foreign magazines. Our Ehsaas programme was internationally acknowledged. The billion tree tsunami was praised around the world. UK prime minister Boris Johnson mentioned my name and our climate change programme at the UN.”
Media quiet on inflation, more focused on ‘my watch’
Imran accused the media of looking the other way on important matters and instead focusing on what he implied were trivial issues, such as his Toshakhana watch.
“The channels that used to bash the PTI government for inflation, those channels are quiet now and are instead focused on a watch,” he said. “It’s my watch. I can sell it, and I can do whatever I want. No one is talking about the economical murder being committed now.
“Today, the inflation is double and at a 50-year high. Where are those media houses now? No one cares about the inflation now. When we used to say the inflation is due to global reasons, no one believed us. When these cabal of crooks say the same thing, no one is questioning.”
پاکستان کی معیشت کی ابتر حالت پر پی ٹی آئی چیئرمین عمران خان کی مکمل پریس کانفرنس (1/5) pic.twitter.com/pa38vSmpKJ
— PTI (@PTIofficial) December 11, 2022
It is pertinent to mention that Imran has been accused by a Dubai-based businessman of selling him an expensive Graff wristwatch — gifted to PTI chief by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman — for $2 million, worth approximately Rs280m at the time of sale in 2019.
PDM running away from elections as it knows PTI would win
The former prime minister said that the PDM government does not have a roadmap to drag the country out of the economic crisis. “The economic situation will keep worsening if this government stays in power because there will be no political stability. The economy only grows when there is certainty.”
Imran claimed that his victory in the next elections was so certain that the government was running away from polls. “They are only trying to delay elections as much as they can,” he said. Nawaz Sharif will do anything but he won’t go for elections. They are scared that the cases will be revived when they lose power after the elections.”
In the question and answers session, Imran was asked if he had noticed any change in the military’s policy towards him and his party. To this, he replied: “I haven’t seen any change so far. The new army chief is here, and he should be given time. We have heard good things about him. We have a lot of expectations of him.”
‘Disqualification plot’
The PTI chief reiterated his allegations that the “two thieves” — Nawaz and Zardari — would go to any extent to delay elections in the country “because they don’t want to waste what they have achieved by ending their corruption cases during the last seven months”.
Moreover, Imran said the incumbent rulers were buying time to lodge cases and disqualify him in collusion with the chief election commissioner.
For this reason, Imran said he was pressing institutions to pave way for early elections in the country to avert the default risk and save the country from economic collapse.
“What would happen If China and IMF do not bail us out? If country defaults, it will be a big loss for all of us,” he added.
Comparing his tenure with the incumbent government, Imran said he revived the economy despite unprecedented challenges of Covid-19 and Kashmir dispute.
پاکستان کی معیشت کی ابتر حالت پر پی ٹی آئی چیئرمین عمران خان کی مکمل پریس کانفرنس (2/5) pic.twitter.com/taD2h7D7kD
— PTI (@PTIofficial) December 11, 2022
“We inherited biggest current account deficit in the country’s history… GDP was 6 per cent during our last year in power before the ‘regime-change operation’… today dollar is not even available for Rs250.”
Earlier, a tweet former prime minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan lambasted the federal government over ‘economic failure’ and injustice with PTI senator Azam Swati.
Taking to Twitter, the former premier pointed out two incidents, which according to him are the reasons behind ‘disaster’ of Pakistan’s economy. “Seventy five-year-old Senator Azam Swati has been subjected to custodial torture, beaten up in front of his grandchildren, his house vandalised and sealed, and he is being dragged from one [province] to another under multiple false FIRs against him in total violation of all laws and basic human rights enshrined in our Constitution,” he noted.
The PTI Chairman added in contrast, “an absconder responsible for billions in corruption and money laundering, Sulman Shahbaz, is dry-cleaned and returns to Pakistan”.
