KALAYA: Breaking his silence a day after the tumultuous shake-up in the federal cabinet, Prime Minister Imran Khan has hinted at even more changes in the “batting order” and ordered the chief ministers of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) to put their respective teams under the microscope.
“A good captain keeps a constant eye on his team,” Khan said, while addressing a public gathering here at the headquarters of the erstwhile Orakzai Agency on Friday.
Continuing with his cricketing metaphors, Khan added: “A good captain has to win the match. Sometimes, he has to change the batting order. Sometimes, he has to replace a player with a new one. The captain’s only target is to make his team win.”
The Prime Minister, who arrived here from Peshawar where he visited Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital, was accompanied by KP Chief Minister Mahmood Khan, Governor Shah Farman, parliamentarians and party leaders.
He said being the Prime Minister his only objective is to bring his nation up as he is answerable to Allah. “For this I have changed the batting order in my team and made a couple of changes too. I will do it in the future as well. I want to tell all the ministers: that anyone who is not beneficial for my country will be replaced with the one who is,” the Prime Minister warned, and urged the KP chief minister and Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar to keep an eye on their teams.
“Rulers will be held accountable by Allah Almighty for the sufferings of the poor people, for [them] not being able to afford their children’s education, medical treatment in government hospitals and the sudden increase in the prices of medicines,” he said.
Referring to the destruction caused by the war on terror and the deprivation faced by the people of tribal region, the Prime Minister said he was the only politician who had been opposing the military operation in the region at the United States’ behest.
The Prime Minister, adorned with a tribal turban, said: “Unfortunately the then-ruler was naïve to the nature, traditions and history of the tribal people. What actually happened to the tribal area [during the war against terrorism] was not fully known to those living outside the region.”
He said it was in reality the ruler at the time — not the Pakistan Army — that was responsible for the military operation in the tribal areas making the people suffer. He said no Pakistani prime minister ever visited the tribal areas as frequently as he did as he knows the area better than all.
Mentioning the losses to the houses, cattle and businesses faced by the people in Orakzai area following flash floods, Khan said the government would not ignore their sacrifices and compensate them. Speaking about the Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement (PTM), Khan said though the group’s demands for the protection of Pashtuns’ rights were genuine, their slogans were counterproductive. “Instead of fanning the flames,” he said, “It is time to mull over as how to move forward and uplift the people by providing them with education, health and employment opportunities.”
Criticising the previous regimes, the Prime Minister said: “The country’s economic outlook would have been far better if Nawaz Sharif and Asif Zardari were not given an NRO [National Reconciliation Ordinance], closing their cases of money laundering.”
He added: “Bilawal Bhutto, Asif Zardari and Maulana Fazlur Rehman have been threatening to remove the government to conceal their corruption. No country could progress amid corrupt rulers. The fear of jail is haunting them and factually — it is not democracy — but their looted money that is under threat.”