Quetta - PTI chief Imran Khan Friday saw a role of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in the ICJ order to halt execution of Indian spy-terrorist Kulbhushan Jadhav, and warned the government against muzzling the social media.
He also alleged that the present leaders were on a looting spree and running the country like the British ran East India Company.
Addressing a public gathering in Quetta, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman said Jadhav was convicted after he confessed to running terrorist networks in Karachi and Balochistan, and admitted that he was a RAW agent.
“We smelled a rat after Nawaz Sharif met with Indian industrialist Sajjan Jindal in Murree,” he said, in a thinly veiled suggestion that some kind of deal was behind Pakistani lawyers’ poor performance at the International Court of Justice (IJC).
Had there been some Pakistani facing execution in India, the PML-N government would never have contacted the ICJ, he added.
Khan termed corruption the most daunting challenge for Pakistan, and said that as many as 800 billion rupees were looted from the public and laundered to Dubai in last four years period.
East India Company
PTI chief said Pakistan was being run like a company. He said the British, after invading India, transferred wealth to the United Kingdom, and the country’s rulers were doing the same today.
“Hindustan ghareeb… Bartaniya ameer… That is what’s happening today,” he said, adding that the country was being run by a few families, which he referred to as “companies”.
“In Sindh, we have Zardari’s companies, In Balochistan its Fazlur Rehman and Achakzai companies, in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa we have Asfandyar’s companies." He added that “Nawaz Sharif Company Limited” operating in Punjab was biggest of all.
“They are getting richer and richer with each passing day by exploiting the country's resources and taking them out of Pakistan,” said the PTI chief.
Pakistan is full of natural resources, and with the current potential it can become the richest country in the world, Khan said.
“If the laundered money is spent on the youth in the country, it will help develop assets for us in the form of skilled individuals,” he said.
Citing Germany and Japan as examples, the PTI chief said that these countries invested on their own people and now they are developed countries.
Panama and Dawn leaks
Imran said that people don’t trust Nawaz Sharif anymore and he challenged the PM to reveal his vested interests in India and other businesses around the world.
“Nawaz Sharif, the people want you to speak the truth. They ask you, what business interests do you have outside Pakistan?” he said.
PTI chairman said a person cannot become the leader in any democracy unless he discloses his business interests.
He asked the Joint Investigation team working on Panama case to investigate Premier’s offshore companies. He also urged Pakistanis living abroad to bring forth information on the foreign businesses of Nawaz Sharif.
Imran said they “won’t sit calm on Dawn leaks” as it brought defamation to army at international level. He added media cell of Prime Minister Mian Nawaz Sharif was behind the news story and nation had lost confidence in him. Khan added that Nawaz was struggling for personal vested interests.
Social media crackdown
About the recent steps taken by the government to control ‘anti-state content’ on social media, Imran Khan described these moves as an attempt to silence the voice of the masses.
He highlighted the restrictions faced by PTI workers and activists on social media and warned to hold sit-ins in case of social media ban in Pakistan. "Don’t mess with PTI's social media workers... Don’t compel us to come to roads as we have a lot of experience in staging protests,” he warned.
Imran’s warning came on the very day the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) voiced its serious concern over ‘arbitrary curbs’ on freedom of expression.
Changing Balochistan
PTI chairman raised the slogan of ‘changing’ Balochistan by improving the systems of police and local bodies as it did in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
“People of Balochistan are facing injustice the most,” he said, adding that federal government didn’t give due share to the province. “The Balochistan people must contemplate where they stand and where they should go,” he remarked.