Removing former Prime Minister Imran Khan from power was a mistake that only early elections could correct, and he has urged the entire country to be ready for an all-out national struggle to win “genuine” independence and democracy.
At the much-anticipated rally of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), tens of thousands of men, women, minor children, and the elderly flocked to the Lahore’s Iqbal Park on Thursday to express their support for former prime minister Imran Khan in rejecting foreign dictates and ensuring sovereignty and self-respect.
At dusk, the sky had begun to clear and a little rain had begun to fall, bringing a large crowd of families and children who had gathered to fervently back Mr Khan’s account.
“We will never accept this imported government,” Mr Khan said to the ecstatic audience on the lawns of the Minar-i-Pakistan.
He urged the people of Pakistan, including those from the PML-N and PPP, who desired to end the “foreign masters’ servitude” to prepare in every part of the nation and “wait for my summons to Islamabad”. “Independence movement” will gain pace, he remarked, noting his admiration for the Pakistan Army and the police as being state institutions.
As a pledge to the assembled audience, the ousted PM declared that the country would remain in battle mode until new elections were called in order to attain “true independence” and democracy.
He sent a clear message to the establishment that the only way for them to correct their “error” of toppling him from office was to hold new elections promptly, observers believe.
After Eidul Fitr, it is expected that the PTI would stage major protests against the government since its chairman requested prayer on the night of April 27.
Rejecting the current government’s decision that it would create a committee to investigate the “Lettergate” scandal, Mr Khan accused it of being corrupt and constituted for the orders of foreign masters.
Said that he was “not going to accept any committee made up by this government,” and asked that the diplomatic cable be reviewed in an open session before the Supreme Court. When the cable is probed publicly, Pakistanis will learn about the plot against my administration, said Imran Khan.
According to Mr Khan, a PTI MNA taking a bribe to vote against his party’s no-confidence motion made up a breach of law and the constitution, considering the cable’s arrival and subsequent exodus to Sindh House by PTI MNAs.
Voting for traitors is ‘treasonous.’
To ensure that the turncoats were not elected in the next general election, he sought a court order to have them expelled from office. There is treason in voting for these traitors, Imran Khan warned.
Defending his actions, the PTI chair Imran Khan claimed he always attempted to set Pakistan’s foreign policy independently in the best interest of the country, spoke out against Islamophobia, and refused to take part in any country’s war on foreign soil. It was despite the advice and threats of “foreign rulers” that he travelled to Russia, where he was able to buy gas, petrol, diesel, and wheat at a 30 percent discount, he added. A plot was hatched, he alleged, “with the cooperation of local abettors,” because “the foreign overlords did not appreciate my acts”.
Pakistan’s ex-Prime Minister, Imran Khan, recited his government’s alleged economic development, higher remittances and record tax collection despite the worldwide spread of the coronavirus.
Asked if the Toshakhana’s presence had been kept by the previous administrations, he replied the previous governments had only paid 15 percent of the amount, but he boosted this to 50 percent. Claims: “I paid 50% of the cost for all presents and sold them to raise money for building of roads,” he said, claiming that the money was utilised for that purpose.
Getting the audience excited
The PTI chairman’s address was preceded by furious speeches from other party officials, who claimed that the previous prime minister was attempting to make Pakistan an independent state by pursuing an independent foreign policy. They said that the purported US plan was not just targeting the PTI administration, but the Pakistani people to keep them enslaved by the American government.. They said that Imran Khan had shown his popular strength at the Minar-i-Pakistan following his large public meetings in Peshawar and Karachi after being ousted from the PM’s office.
The Lahore deputy commissioner had already written to PTI leaders, informing them that the former premier would have to address the public meeting virtually because of security threats.
Security risks must be dealt with swiftly by the interior minister, who has been given the authority to do so. All provinces’ home secretaries were also given strict instructions to protect Imran Khan’s safety while on the road around the country.
Ex-foreign minister and PTI vice chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi stated during the event that anti-Pakistan groups were now working on a new plot to disqualify Mr. Khan and bar the PTI from participating in the upcoming elections through the ECP.
When Mr Qureshi questioned if they would enable such individuals to prevail in their malicious intentions, the enraged mob rejected the plot.
Asad Umer, the PTI secretary general, declared that Pakistan will not submit to foreign dictates.
The charges made against Zardari by Rashid
PPP Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari is accused by former interior minister Sheikh Rashid of murdering his wife, former premier Benazir Bhutto, and gaining power using fraudulent paperwork. The former prime minister accused Mr Zardari of killing and poisoning Benazir’s brothers, Murtaza and Shahnawaz. Rashid may have forgotten that Mr Zardari and Ms Bhutto wed two years after Shahnawaz Bhutto was killed in 1987.
He also said there was an international plot against Imran Khan, and that the entire country was working together to stop it. According to him, Imran Khan was correct when he declared the Pakistan Army was the region’s greatest force and warned of civil war if anybody tried to kill him.
Fawad Chaudhry, a former federal communications minister, claimed that the PTI has re-united the nation to make the 1947 declaration of independence a reality. Foreign powers “will be punished and pushed back,” he said. “We will regain our freedom,” he said.
