Imran Khan slams coalition govt for ‘murdering Pakistan’s economy’

LAHORE: Former prime minister Imran Khan on Tuesday berated the coalition government for “murdering Pakistan’s economy” since the PTI government was removed from power.

“When the PTI govt was ousted in April, the risk of Pakistan taking loans from abroad was 5pc. Today the risk has increased to 64.5pc,” he claimed.

PTI Chairman Imran Khan was addressing the participants of the Haqiqi Azadi march at Sarai Alamgir via video link.

Imran went said that this risk percentage shows that the world considers Pakistan’s economy extremely weak. “This shows that they believe Pakistan can’t return its loans,” he added.

“These two families [Sharif and Zardari] have increased our loans by four times […] if we default, the rupee will depreciate further because dollars won’t come in and people won’t invest,” the PTI chief said.

Former prime minister Imran Khan reiterated that prosperity and economic stability are linked to the judicial system of a country.

Addressing the Haqeeqi Azadi marchers, Imran requested Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial to hear the three “landmark cases” registered by the PTI i.e. Arshad Sharif’s murder, Azam Swati’s custodial torture and Wazirabad FIR issue.

Khan stated that being a citizen of Pakistan, it was his constitutional right to register an FIR; however, despite being the former prime minister of the country, his FIR after the attack on him wasn’t registered.

The PTI chief further added that the coalition government urged him to wait for general elections, “but I can’t wait because I worried about the economic situation of the country.”

“I am sure that like landslide victory in the by-elections, PTI will clean sweep all other parties even if elections are held as per schedule. But we can’t wait for a year because the country is in a crisis,” he added.

PTI Chairman Imran Khan criticised the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for repeatedly giving decisions against the party, claiming the body is on an “agenda”.

Addressing the long marchers, Imran urged Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandial to hear the case filed against the Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja.

The former premier charged that the election body only heard PTI’s foreign funding case and an investigation was conducted in a biased manner.

He highlighted that PPP Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari, PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif and PPP leader Yousuf Raza Gillani during their government’s tenure also received gifts from Toshakhana.

Meanwhile, PTI chief Imran Khan and PML-Q leader Moonis Elahi discussed details of the joint investigation team formed to investigate the Wazirabad attack.

The two discussed the JIT in a meeting held at Khan’s Zaman Park residence in Lahore. Sources said that during the meeting, the two also discussed the security for the Haqeeqi Azadi march being led by the PTI.

“The nation is standing with Imran Khan and wants transparent elections,” Moonis told Khan.

On the other hand, the PTI chief said the party’s Haqeeqi Azadi march was not far from reaching its destination.