LAHORE - Former prime minister and PTI chief Imran Khan has claimed the ‘establishment’ exercises “absolute authority” in Pakistan compared to civilian setups. Interacting with a group of journalists at his residence here yesterday, the PTI chief said that things went smooth for him after he visited Russia in February this year. Imran claimed that the army chief wanted Pakistan to vote against the Russian invasion of Ukraine at the United Nations while he was of the view that abstaining would be a better option. The ex-premier, whose government was dethroned in April last through vote of no-confidence, also claimed that during his visit to Moscow, Russia had offered gas and oil supplies to Pakistan in addition to wheat at subsidised prices “which is what Pakistan was in need of to offset rising inflation”. Speaking on the occasion, he also conceded that he had differences with the ‘establishment’ on the issue of then Punjab chief minister Usman Buzdar and the anti-corruption drive. The PTI chief also admitted that as prime minister he failed to achieve results from his anti-corruption campaign. He reiterated that they have stepped back from the issue of the army chief. Later, addressing the long marchers in Dina, Quaidabad, Peshawar and Chakdara vial video link, Imran lambasted the coalition government for prioritising their court cases over the economic crisis in the country. He reiterated that Pakistan was witnessing record inflation. “The government should be focusing on this. But instead, it is only trying to end its corruption cases,” he maintained. The former prime minister said that the corruption cases concerning millions of rupees had been wrapped up while the incumbent government had also passed laws in this regard.