-Says ‘will resign tomorrow if opposition returns looted wealth’
-Claims opposition “does not have the guts” to resign fromassemblies; it is a move that requires “courage” and “character”
By Ajmal Khan Yousafzai
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Tuesday made an offer to the Opposition to resign from office, conditional to the fact that they return the money they “stole” from the country.
“I will resign tomorrow if you deposit the money you looted, back into the national exchequer,” he said.
The premier also dared the Opposition parties to make good on their threat to resign from the assemblies — one that the 11-party Opposition alliance Pakistan Democratic Movement has been claiming since it was launched in September.
“Such people do not have the guts to resign,” PM Imran Khan said, adding: “Making such a move requires courage and character.” He also criticised the decision by major Opposition parties to contest the Senate elections.
“Neither did they set out on a long march nor were they successful in gathering people [for their cause],” the prime minster remarked.
“December 31, and then January 31, came and went,” he said, in reference to the first and then the subsequent deadline PDM had set for the premier to resign.
PM challenges Opposition to provide bank account details: A few days ago, the prime minister had also challenged the Opposition to provide details of ‘1,000 bank accounts even’ to the Election Commission of Pakistan’s scrutiny committee which is looking into the foreign funding case against PTI. He said that the PTI has submitted details of 40,000 bank accounts through which it received funding ahead of the 2018 elections and claimed that when they are scrutinised they “will all turn up clear”.
PM dares Opposition to table no-confidence motion: Earlier, in December, when the PDM’s anti-government campaign was at its peak, the prime minister had dared the Opposition to go the democratic route and table a no-confidence motion in parliament if they seek his removal.
“If the Opposition seeks to move a no-confidence motion, they should come and do so in the assemblies,” he said, criticising the call for mass resignations from assemblies by PDM chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman.
PML-N, PPP say ‘will not leave field open’ for PTI: This Wednesday past, PML-N had announced its decision to run for Senate elections.
PML-N secretary-general Ahsan Iqbal said that the party will contest the upcoming Senate elections to deter the PTI from obtaining a two-thirds majority in the parliament.
Speaking to media outside an accountability court, the PML-N stalwart said that his party did not believe in “leaving the field open for the PTI”. Iqbal said that if the PML-N did not contest elections, then the ruling party will obtain a two-thirds majority and “change the face of the Constitution.”
The PPP also issued similar remarks in December, declaring they will “never leave the field open”.
Chief Minister Sindh Murad Ali Shah had said the party will be participating in both by-polls and Senate elections.
