-Imran Khan says current political milieu is challenging for Judiciary, Lawyers
-Seeks support from lawyer’s community
-Says masses took to streets instead of celebrating as PTI govt was not ousted due to corruption
By Makhdoom
Shehryar Babar
ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan Monday urged the Supreme Court (SC) of Pakistan to monitor corruption cases involving the Sharif family.
Addressing a lawyers’ convention in Peshawar, the former premier said that it was the responsibility of the judiciary and lawyers to uphold the rule and law in the country, or else the history would not forgive them.
Terming the Sharif family as the ‘Silicon Mafia’, Imran Khan said that these people would only frighten people to consolidate its rule and hamper protest, adding that this mafia could either purchase people or eliminate them.
He also pointed out an interview of an official of Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), saying that a prosecutor namely Zulqarnain confessed that he was stopped from further investigating Sharif family’s cases. “I wonder who stopped him when I was in power,” he said.
Imran claimed that the Sharif family collected Rs16 billion in the name of servants. “Rs375 crore were transferred to the account of Malik Maqsood, a peon at the Ramzan Sugar Mills,” he said, adding that when Shehbaz and Hamza were about to be punished, they were made the chief executives.
Imran Khan praised the apex court for directly overseeing the corruption cases of Sharif family, reiterating that FIA investigators were removed by ‘corrupt mafia’ and some suffered heart attacks due to pressure.
Praising his government’s performance, Imran said that Pakistan performed much better in the last two years in the economic sector as compared to the past. “The country achieved record tax collection targets during PTI’s tenure,” he said.
Khan further criticized the incumbent government and blamed it for conspiring with the United States to oust him. He explained that Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Donald Lu threatened the then Pakistani Ambassador against the PTI-led government.
He said that history has changed this time when people came out to protest when the PTI government was ousted instead of distributing sweets. He also demanded the Supreme Court to assure protection of the second phase of the long march.
Khan said that all previous governments in Pakistan were removed because of corruption with the exception of the PTI-led one.
Speaking during a lawyers’ convention in Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Khan said: “Since our government was not removed due to corruption, people took to the streets instead of distributing sweets.”
He said that the current political milieu of the country was posing a real challenge for the judiciary as well as the lawyers in the country.
“I, therefore, want the lawyer’s community to support me as they and the judiciary as a whole play an important role in saving the country,” he said.
During the speech, Khan once again criticised the incumbent government and blamed it for conspiring with the United States to oust him.
The PTI chairman then went on to explain how US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Donald Lu threatened the Pakistani ambassador to the US and detailed how, according to him, the PTI-led government was removed from power by the then opposition.
“They [the then opposition] comprised bootlickers, that’s why the US wanted to bring them back to power.”
Praising this government’s performance, the ex-PM claimed that Pakistan performed better in the last two years in the economic sector as compared to the past. “The country grew economically by 5.6% in 2021 and 6% in 2022,” said Khan, adding that the country achieved record tax collection targets during his tenure.
“India — which is a Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (QUAD) country — bought oil from Russia at lower prices and has reduced the petroleum prices in its country while our government increased the prices.”
