PTI chief claims Pakistan on verge of default n Pins high hopes on new army chief saying he should be given time n Urges institutions to pave way for snap polls to save country from default risk n Pledges to dissolve Punjab, KP assemblies after completing homework n Claims
Parvez Elahi has given him full authority to dissolve PA.
LAHORE - In what appears to be an obvious case of invit- ing the ‘establishment’ to interfere in the coun- try’s political matters, Pakistan Tehreek-e-In- saaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan Sunday said he had high expec- tations of the new army chief who is expected to side with the ‘truth’. The PTI chief said this while replying to a question at a press con- ference he addressed through video link to send across the mes- sage that the coun- try was on the verge of default owing to al- leged bad governance of the PDM government which he believes was imposed on the people through a ‘foreign con- spiracy’ aided by inter- nal elements. The PTI chairman was asked if he had noticed any change in the military establish- ment’s policy towards him and his party after the change of guards at the GHQ, he said, “I ha- ven’t seen any change so far. The new army chief is here, and he should be given time. We have heard a lot of good things about him.
Hafiz-e-Quran. We have high expectations of him. I hope he will side with the truth”, he re- plied, adding that there should be no discord between the ‘es- tablishment’ and the country’s biggest party [PTI]. The PTI chief accused the media of turn- ing a blind eye towards what he called the worsening economic situation and instead focusing on the Toshakhana wristwatch which belonged to him. “I can sell it or whatever I want to do with it. It is mine”, he affirmed. Imran Khan warned that the risk of a default was imminent and would ruin the country’s economy as all the foreign fund- ing will stop and the rupee will be devalued further. “But the cabal of crooks imposed on us doesn’t care about it. They have stashed huge amounts of sto- len money abroad in the form of dollars. They will run away if the country defaults. But the resultant situation will be wor- risome for the common man as no investment will come to Pa- kistan and the overseas Paki- stani will also be hesitant to in- vest here”, he said. Answering another question, Imran Khan reiterated his po- sition to dissolve the provincial assemblies of Punjab and KPK provinces. “I stick to my posi- tion. I will dissolve the assem- blies in December the moment the homework is complete”, he said, adding that Parvez Ela- hi had given him full authori- ty to dissolve Punjab Assembly though he had his reservations about it. “In a way, Parvez Elahi is right in saying that in case of an interim setup most likely to be put in place by the Election Commission, it is very likely that they would place their man as IG Punjab and the victimiza- tion will start”, he maintained. Talking about the possibili- ty of snap polls, the PTI chair- man said that PDM was running away from the elections as it had the fear that PTI would win. Stressing that the country was on the verge of default owing to the alleged bad governance of the PDM government, Imran Khan claimed they did not have a roadmap to steer the country out of the economic crisis. He feared that the economic situ- ation would worsen further if the incumbent government is allowed to remain in power. “It is so because there will be no political stability and economy grows only when the country is politically stable”. He alleged that the PDM was trying to delay the elections to the maximum extent. “Nawaz Sharif will do anything he can but he won’t go for elections. He said they feared a situation when the cases [against them] will be revived after being out of power after the elections. Imran Khan alleged that incum- bent rulers were buying time to get him disqualified in collusion with the chief election commis- sioner. He said he was pressing the institutions to pave the way for early elections to avert the risk of the country going to de- fault. “What would happen if Chi- na and the IMF do not help us? If the country defaults, it will be a big loss for all of us,” he warned.