EX-PM says can talk to TTP, but not ‘thieves’
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehrik-e-insaf (PTI) Chairman and former prime minister Imran Khan has said that he can talk to the Tehrik-e-taliban Pakistan (TTP), the separatists of Balochistan and Sindh, but not with thieves [his political rivals].
“Will you speak to someone who robs your home?” he said while addressing on the “thanksgiving day” on the call of his party after getting his nominee, Chaudhry Pervez Elahi belonging to the Pakistan Muslim League-q (PML-Q) become the chief minister of Punjab in place of Hamza Shahbaz of the Pml-nawaz.
“Throughout my life, I have witnessed such enthusiasm only once before, and that was during the 1965 war; at that time, everybody thought that the nation was fighting. And now, I saw the same enthusiasm among the masses during the by-polls in the 20 constituencies of Punjab,” Imran said.
Insisting that he wanted good relations, even with US — which he accuses of trying to engineer his ouster from power through a conspiracy — he urged the nation to prefer “death to slavery.”
“I do not want bad relations with the US, where we export more than any other country and where a large number of the Pakistani community resides. But death is better than slavery and we have to live with self-respect,” he added.
Saying that general elections were the sole solution to the prevailing crises facing the country, brought on by the ineptitude of the government that was imposed on the nation through foreign conspiracy, Imran vowed that once he comes into power again, he would put the country on its own feet and would only ask overseas Pakistanis and not the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for financial assistance.
Imran once again expressed a complete lack of trust in the incumbent Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja. He alleged that Raja was involved in rigging in the recent by-polls for 20 seats of the provincial assembly, where his party won the bulk of seats.
He vowed to resume the Sehat Card and Ehsas Ration — two flagship schemes launched by his previous regime in the province, upon his return to power. His pledge to resume two major schemes in Punjab seemed to negate the impression that he may seek to dissolve the assemblies of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), where the party is currently ruling, to pressurise the federal government to step down and announce general elections.