ISLAMABAD: The Opposition parties do not care for the lives and safety of the people, Prime Minister Imran Khan said Sunday, terming the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) "their last resort" to try and get a concession under the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO).
PM Imran Khan also criticised the PDM for holding rallies and jalsas amid a worsening coronavirus situation in the country and the Opposition parties' bid to save what he termed was "looted wealth and corruption".
In a series of Twitter posts, he said Pakistan is facing not only the COVID-19 pandemic but a "a political leadership that has never gone through any democratic struggle" and is not well-versed with the challenges ordinary citizens experience.
The Opposition leaders lacked empathy, the premier said, and their families "looted national wealth to further impoverish our masses".
PM Imran further accused the Opposition leaders of "living like royalty in their secluded mansions", saying they all had "inherited their positions because of their families".
"Now their sole and desperate goal is to save their families' looted wealth and corruption of which they are an integral part," the premier added, reiterating his earlier stance that the Opposition parties and their leaders were only focused on a concession under the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO), which "is all that guides their politics, not any concern for the lives of ordinary citizens".
The prime minister further slammed the Opposition for earlier opposing the smart lockdown strategy to curb the spread of the deadly coronavirus — Pakistan recorded over 2,800 new infections and has so far lost close to 8,000 people to COVID-19 — and "now, with [a] new spike, when we again need smart lockdown" in the country.
"They want jalsas, not caring for the lives and safety of people. They think this is their last means of pressuring us for NRO — which will never happen," he stressed.
The premier also took a jibe at the lifestyle of the Opposition leaders, which he said was no less than that of royals, and said they had "never worked a day in their lives".
"Having never worked a day in their lives, their 'shahi' lifestyles are directly dependent on saving their families ill-gotten, illegally acquired wealth through robbing and impoverish the nation," PM Imran Khan wrote.