Pervez Khattak says foreign powers trying to destabilise Pakistan

NOWSHERA: Federal Minister for Defence Pervez Khattak said on Sunday foreign powers were busy in destabilizing Pakistan.

He said this while speaking at a function arranged by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) district chapter where several political workers from other political parties announced joining the ruling party. “At this critical time when foreign powers are engaged in efforts to destabilize Pakistan, the anti-government movement by the opposition PDM [Pakistan Democratic Movement] is beyond understanding,” said Pervez Khattak. The federal minister believed that the PDM agenda was to hide their leaders’ alleged corruption and reach the corridors of power by all means. “But their dream will never come true,” he added.

Pervez Khattak was critical of the PDM chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman for demanding snap polls in the country. “The wish for an early election will never get fulfilled,” he said and advised the opposition political parties for wait for the general election scheduled for 2023. The federal minister said Prime Minister Imran Khan was the only ray of hope for the people of the country.

He hoped Imran Khan would put the country on the road to progress and prosperity. “The PTI will return to power with a two-thirds majority even after the 2023 general election,” said Pervez Khattak with full surety. He came down on the PDM parties for threatening the PTI government with mass resignations and said the prime minister would never succumb to pressure and threat. The federal minister said the opposition political parties had the right to stage protests, hold public meetings, take out processions, long marches but nobody would be allowed to violate the law.

Pervez Khattak said the prime minister was vying for a corruption-free Pakistan. “The very slogan and manifesto enabled him to become the prime minister of the country. He will never compromise on this issue and take his 22-year-long political struggle to its logical conclusion”, he added. He slammed the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz supreme leader and Nawaz Sharif and accused him of launching attacks on the state institutions while sitting abroad. He said the statements by the former three-time prime minister were bringing a bad name for the country and its institutions.

The federal minister also spoke on the various development schemes, both completed and the ongoing, in his home town of Nowshera and said people were benefiting from these uplift projects. He said the government was taking tangible steps for the welfare of the people of Nizampur.

“The work is in full swing on the construction of Barani Dam in Nizampur which, on completion, would irrigate a large part of Nizampur barren lands,” he explained.