By Ali Imran
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif censured his predecessor Imran Khan on Thursday, accusing him of “making naked threats against the country”, deeming him “unfit for public office” and warning him against “talking about [the] division of Pakistan”.
The prime minister made these remarks in a Twitter post that referred to an interview of Imran with anchorperson Sami Abraham during which the PTI chief urged the establishment to make the “right decisions” and warned that if Pakistan were to lose its nuclear deterrence, it would fragment into “three pieces”.
In the interview aired Wednesday night, he said the current political situation was a problem for the country as well as the establishment. “If the establishment doesn’t make the right decisions then I can assure [you] in writing that [before everyone else] they and the army will be destroyed because what will become of the country if it goes bankrupt,” he said. “Pakistan is going towards a default. If that happens then which institution will be [worst] hit? The army. After it is hit, what concession will be taken from us? Denuclearisation,” he said. “If the right decisions aren’t made at this time then the country is going towards suicide.” Hours after the interview was broadcast, PM Shehbaz tweeted: “While I am in Turkey inking agreements, Imran Niazi is making naked threats against the country. If at all any proof was needed that Niazi is unfit for public office, his latest interview suffices.” “Do your politics but don’t dare to cross limits and talk about [the] division of Pakistan,” he warned the PTI chairperson. In a separate statement shared on the PML-N’s Twitter, the premier said Imran’s remarks were proof that the PTI chief was “involved in a conspiracy, not politics”.
He said Imran was spreading “chaos” due to his “frustration and sick mentality”, and that his statement was similar to those of Pakistan’s enemies.
“This is not a statement but a conspiracy to spark the fire of anarchy and division in the country,” PM Shehbaz said. “Losing power does not mean that you wage a war against Pakistan, its unity and its institutions,” he said, warning Imran not to “attack” the federation and country’s institutions. “Don’t exceed the limits [defined] by the law and Constitution.”
The prime minister said the nation would not accept such “nefarious” plans at any cost and would not let them succeed. He vowed to defeat such “impure” aims. PTI Chairman Imran Khan announced on Thursday that he would unveil his plan of action for his party’s next march at a rally in Dir “two days from now” on Saturday.
“I have a rally in Dir where I will present my next plan of action. We are studying the Supreme Court’s decision,” he said while speaking at a rally in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Shangla district. The PTI is looking towards the apex court to provide his party “protection” ahead of another planned march towards Islamabad, which would follow his ‘Azadi March’ late last month where PTI workers and supporters had faced intense police action.
The purpose of the marches is to pressure the government into calling immediate elections.
The party’s petition in this regard, however, was returned by the SC registrar today, saying that it had already decided on an “almost similar issue”.
