Someone else enjoyed authority when I was PM: Imran

LAHORE/ISLAMABAD: PTI Chairman Imran Khan Wednesday said ‘someone else’ enjoyed authority when he was the prime minister.

He made these remarks while speaking to senior journalists, doctors, ISF activists and others during his one-day visit to the provincial capital. Imran said his war was based on the agenda that no NRO would be given to anyone.

The former premier said he could fight anyone if he had had half of the power as was enjoyed by the Muslim ruler Sher Shah Suri. Imran said as the premier, he came to know how the nation was deprived of its freedom for dollars. He said a country like Switzerland made progress just because it was governed by the law.

The PTI chief said he would soon give a call for the long march and spread his message to every nook and corner of the country. Imran Khan urged his workers to wait for his call for the long march. He said the US would never let the Pakistani youth enjoy a secure future.

He also held meetings with his Punjab team, including Senior Minister Mian Aslam Iqbal, Health Minister Dr Yasmin Rashid, MNA Hammad Azhar, Adviser Home Department Omar Sarfaraz Cheema and others.

Earlier, addressing the Islamabad Trade Union Workers Convention, he blasted the government for amending the NAB laws to quash billions of corruption cases of the ruling elite. Imran said giving NROs to a cabal of dacoits amounted to enmity with the country. He said a system based on injustice could not work and a country having different laws for rich and poor could not prosper.

Referring to the ruling coalition leadership, he alleged that corruption cases had been waived and NROs given for more robbery. He wondered how such theft could be allowed in a poor country.

He claimed that the foreign powers wanted weak and puppet governments in Pakistan whom they could use easily. “If I had assets abroad, I would not have the courage to say ‘absolutely not’. It was the reason my government was removed through a conspiracy to impose puppets on the nation who did not have the courage because they had their assets abroad,” he charged.

The PTI chairman pointed out that India was buying oil from Russia at 40 percent lower price but Pakistan could not do so because the ‘imported government’ did not have the courage to annoy their masters.

He said a cabal of crooks was holding long marches against his government for inflation but this ‘self-centered greedy incompetent government’ broke 50-year record of inflation, compounding the miseries of people.

“I was not a public office-holder in Pakistan. I used to play cricket, but I showed 40-year-old contracts. I sold my London flat and brought money to Pakistan. If a cricketer can give the money trail, why not a three-time prime minister?”

About the closure of industries, he said 20 percent industry in Faisalabad had closed down while during the PTI rule industries were flourishing. He regretted that Ishaq Dar was imported from London to fix the fast-dwindling economy while he had earlier ruined it.