Coming days to be defining moments in Pakistan’s history: PM

Saidu Sharif: Prime Minister Imran Khan Wednesday came down heavily on the hurriedly cobbled opposition alliance pursuing the scandalous “Changa Manga” politics and said coming days will prove to be defining moments in Pakistan’s history.

“As I have invited people in Islamabad on March 27 [for a rally], nation should come out to tell that they stand with the truth and not with thieves, dacoits, hypocrites and the slaves of America,” Imran Khan said while addressing a huge public gathering here at the Grassy Ground.

The Prime Minister said that “bags of notes” were being used from Sindh House in Islamabad for horse trading and buying conscience of the members of parliament like Nawaz Sharif [former prime minister] did in Changa Manga in the past.

“Does the Constitution allow horse trading? Does any democracy in the world allow this? Is this practice allowed in UK, the democracy to which we follow?” he remarked while posing a question to the Election Commission of Pakistan.

The Prime Minister said that the opposition parties were doing all this to protect their corruption. “They know that if Imran Khan remains in power, all of them would be in jails”, he remarked.

He regretted that the opposition parties have decided, if they succeed, to abolish the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) law and withdraw their cases. “They don’t even feel shamed”, he remarked.

The Prime Minister while referring to the opposition parties’ no-trust motion said that he would hunt down the “three mice”, which have joined hands and come out to defeat him.

He was critical of the PML-N and PPP for raising the country’s debt four times during their 10 years of rule [2008-18] and spending public money on private foreign visits. “They protected their personal interests at the cost of country’s interest”, he remarked.

The Prime Minister urged the people of Swat to come out against the corrupt for the sake of country and the future of their children.

Challenging the PML-N and PPP to compare their governments’ performance with that of PTI’s during the last over three years he said that the opposition parties feared from the country’s progress achieved by PTI government.

The Prime Minister said that the way his government tackled the situation of COVID-19 pandemic as well as the country’s economy through successful policies was appreciated by the world.

He mentioned historic increase in the country’s exports and revenue collection which led to government’s decision to reduce the price of petrol and diesel by Rs. 10 per liter and electricity tariff by Rs. 5 per unit.

The Prime Minister also mentioned the record production of wheat, maize, rice and sugarcane crops, which led to realization of additional incomes for farmers; enhanced IT sector exports; billion tree tsunami to tackle the challenge of climate change as the present government’s achievements.

He further said that the initiation of 10 dam projects including Mohmand, Dasu and Diamer Bhasha to be completed by the years 2025 and 2028 will increase the country’s water reservoirs and help boost agriculture sector.

Prime Minister Imran Khan speaking about the corruption of PML-N and PPP governments in the past said the sons of a thrice-elected prime minister [Nawaz Sharif] were living abroad and considered them unaccountable on the pretext that they were not Pakistani citizens.

Similarly, he said, the daughter of Nawaz Sharif, who was a beneficial owner of four apartments in London, was also unable to tell about the source of funds utilized for purchasing those apartments.

Ishaq Dar, who was accused of corruption, and his sons were also living in London, he mentioned.

The Prime Minister said that Shahbaz Sharif, who was accused of corruption worth billions of rupees in the case of bank deposits of “Maqsood Chaprassi” and other servants, instead of giving reply to the court, was used to get adjournments in the case through various excuses.

Prime Minister Imran Khan expressed his extreme pleasure over the unanimous adoption of a Pakistan-sponsored resolution on Islamophobia by the UN General Assembly and appreciated the efforts of the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Pakistan’s Permanent Representative at UN in that regard.

Imran Khan told the gathering how he forcefully raised and highlighted the issue of Islamophobia; Muslims sentiments on the blasphemy of Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him) and linking terrorism with Islam or Muslims at various international fora including the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and the United Nations.

He said that the adoption of resolution by the UN General Assembly, which declared March 15 to be observed as a day against Islamophobia, was a major a success for Pakistan after 1973 when the country’s parliament declared Qadianis as a non-Muslim minority.

The Prime Minister questioned as if the opposition parties, especially Nawaz Sharif, the thrice-elected prime minister, raised the issue of Islamophobia at UN or OIC. “When he [Nawaz Sharif] met US President with [pre-written] notes in his hands, he should have had a slip about Islamophobia or Kashmir,” he remarked.

Imran Khan questioned why Maulana Fazlur Rehman, who was religion for politics for the last 30 years, did not raise the issue of Islamopobia. He, however, added that the slaves had had no faith but their money.

The Prime Minister regretted and described the decision of the High Court of Indias Karnataka state against “hijab” as Islamophobia.

He also criticized the PML-N and PPP leadership for not condemning or protesting over the 400 drone attacks in Pakistani trial areas during 2008 to 2018, which led the killing of innocent people including women and children

The Prime Minister said that only those leaders, who do not have their assets and properties abroad, stood against the powerful countries.

“Today, the assets of Russia’s bigwigs have been frozen by the US and West”, he said and added that the leaders, who have their stolen assets or funds aboard, were forced not bow down their heads.