Govt won’t last beyond 5 or 6 months: Imran

RAWALPINDI: Incarcerated Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan has said the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) did not join the federal cabinet because the incumbent set-up will not last long. “Establishment, caretaker government and the Election Commission are all one and everything is based on lies,” the former prime minister said while speaking to journalists in the Adiala Jail here on Wednesday.

Terming Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikander Sultan Raja a “liar,” Imran Khan said the CEC is still occupying the office despite five reports issued by election watchdogs on election irregularities, Geo News reported.

Predicting political and economic scenarios, he claimed that the new government would not last more than five to six months, whereas, a fresh wave of inflation would hit the country after signing the new bailout package with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

He expressed apprehensions over the IMF programme, stating that he was against another IMF plan without political stability, “I told the IMF not to issue loans until there is political stability in the country.”

Imran emphasized the pivotal role of overseas Pakistanis in stabilising the economy, underscoring the need for political stability to attract foreign investment. “Only overseas Pakistanis can help us out.”

The PTI founder said that he is mentally prepared to stay behind bars for another four to five months. Regarding strained ties with the establishment, he responded by saying: “Attempts are underway to create differences between us and the army.” He asserted that the May 9, 2023 events were ‘orchestrated’ to discredit his party, claiming he was targeted by getting him convicted in three cases within a week to undermine the PTI. “But their plan failed,” the PTI supremo said. To another question, Imran said that his party would invite all political parties who fell victim to “election rigging” to PTI’s upcoming public meeting scheduled for March 23. The former prime minister said that his party would also invite Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUIF) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman to the forthcoming power show. Commenting on a meeting between the prime minister and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) chief minister, the PTI founder said that Ali Amin Gandapur should have appeared in the photo with PM Shehbaz Sharif after receiving funds.

He also rejected any complaints towards Dr Arif Alvi, saying that Alvi did his best to resolve several issues during his presidential tenure. Imran also spoke on the recent spike in terrorist attacks. He urged maintaining good ties with the Afghanistan government regardless of who is ruling the neighbouring country. He also took credit on behalf of his party for facilitating peace dialogues between the Taliban and United States to end the war which continued for nearly two decades. Imran added that the Afghan government had assured Pakistan to resolve the key issue of the outlawed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan during the PTI government’s tenure. Referring to the cases of PMLN supremo’s sons Hassan and Hussain Nawaz, he accused Hassan of selling a house with the transaction being flagged by Britain’s National Crime Agency for its suspicious nature. Hassan Nawaz should be asked where he got the money to buy the house, he said and further alleged that both the sons were “found guilty in the Panama case”. He also claimed that Nawaz would soon leave for London.