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Friday March 29, 2024

Nawaz should tell who signalled him to come on roads: Imran

By Mumtaz Alvi
August 08, 2017

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan on Monday asked ex-premier Nawaz Sharif to reveal from where he got the signal to come on roads and wondered was it not derailment of democracy to lie to people that he was innocent in the Panama case.

Imran said at a media conference here that Nawaz wanted to pressurise the state institutions as he sought an NRO with regards to corruption references against him. Imran supported transparent investigation into the allegations  against him by Ayesha Gulalai, but pointed out that the parliamentary panel consisted of those, who were his rivals.

Imran alleged that Nawaz was coming out to safeguard his corruption and for this he was targeting the judiciary and the Army.  “It was a 5-0 decision that came against Nawaz Sharif -- the highest institution of the country declared him corrupt and a criminal. And he is travelling on taxpayers’ money to Lahore... and using that public money he will lie to the people that he is innocent,” Imran charged.

The PTI chief said Nawaz Sharif was given ample chances to prove himself innocent; if he was not accepting the SC decision then why should anyone else accept the decision of the courts or the system and what message was being given to thousands of prisoners, who were held for minor crimes. “Our jails are full of poor people who have been caught on petty crimes and they are languishing in the jails; I tell you if you add up all the amounts these small thieves have taken against just one house that the Sharif children live in the Sharifs’ corruption and money laundering will be much more. They attack the Supreme Court and the Pakistan Army,” he alleged.

Imran recalled that when they hit the streets thrice, all they kept saying was that the PTI was derailing democracy and that the party has been given signals from somewhere to derail democracy. “I want to ask Nawaz Sharif you are going against the courts and Constitution; is this not the derailment of democracy. Let me ask you Nawaz Sharif; where have you gotten a green signal from to do this and to talk the language of the enemy against our armed forces. You ruined Punjab Police and all our institutions just to save your own corruption,” he alleged.

The PTI chairman said Sharifs’ cases are in NAB and they know they are going to get stuck. “We demand that the Hudaibya Mills case should go to NAB as ordered by the Supreme Court and NAB must appeal to the court concerned,” he said. He pointed out that Nawaz was now petrified of NAB because they knew they had no proofs of their innocence. He said Nawaz Sharif kept on trying to fool the people by saying that he was disqualified on the basis of Iqama, whereas the charges on him were much bigger than the charges on any other thief in Pakistan. 

“They are telling lies upon lies; the Qatari prince came in their Supreme Court story; they did perjury in the courts and forged documentation. This Iqama has a massive crime hidden behind it; it was used for money laundering. The interesting thing is that some of your biggest ministers in the country hold Iqamas. Ishaq Dar despite cases going to NAB has been made finance minister again,” Imran said. He said that by hitting the roads, Nawaz was trying to secure for himself another NRO by putting pressure on NAB, as he kept saying he would one day tell who was doing a conspiracy against him. “We are dying to hear from you... who is this entity hatching a conspiracy against you? A criminal is going to be hitting the streets saying the courts have wronged me? This is ruining our democracy and this is ruining our morality,” he said.

Imran said the N-League had a golden moment to disengage and distance themselves from a corrupt prime minister and a corrupt family. “We will show you that the people of Pakistan are ready to stand with our institutions. We came out for elections probe first, then for free and fair and anti-rigging elections and then for accountability of leadership. And what are they heading out for? To save the corruption of a man declared a criminal by the highest court of Pakistan,” he said.

PTI chief charged that Sharifs were acting like they were untouchable, but no matter what they do, there was defeat in front of them. “They are giving Rs200 billion via their new ministers so they can win the election, but no matter what they do there is defeat written in the cards for them now,” he alleged.

About probe into allegations against him, he explained that in the British Parliament there is a parliamentary commissioner, who is impartial and decides whether a case is genuine enough to be taken forward. “While they have made a committee with all our opposition and then saying it is a fair committee, we will present a case ourselves and ask it to be tried by a neutral body,” he said.

Imran said the PTI will fully stand with Tahirul Qadri on the Model Town killings issue. “They deserve justice. Their workers were killed in broad daylight. I only believe in one umpire and that is Allah, Who is the ultimate decision maker and Who decides our fates,” he said.