Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan Sunday said that both Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) took turns ruling the country in the name of Charter of Democracy (CoD). “The 2013 elections were fixed by the PML-N and PPP who were in collusion against the PTI. They took their turns and were still in a silent agreement to counter the PTI,” Imran said while addressing a rally in Abbottabad as part of the election campaign. The PTI chief went on to say that Pakistan was more indebted than before. “The country is indebted more than ever due to the corrupt practices of the past rulers,” he added. “Pakistan’s external debt stood at Rs 6,000 billion ten years ago. Today, the debt amounts to Rs 27,000 billion. Prices of petroleum products have increased exponentially. A dollar, today, equals to Rs 125.” Responding to Nawaz Sharif’s proclamation that he was coming to Pakistan to face jail term, the PTI chief said, “Nelson Mandela went to jail for his people. (Nawaz Sharif) don’t act like you’re another Mandela.” “He has apparently announced that he will return home but I advise him not to try to become Nelson Mandela. He was a great leader who spent 27 years in prison, whereas Nawaz Sharif could not even think of that as he had plundered the country and gave that money to his children,” said Imran. Turning his guns towards the younger Sharif over his recent presser wherein he said that the PML-N did not accept the court’s decision in Avenfield reference case, the cricketer-turned-politician said they (Sharifs) wanted to get decisions in their favour. “Now the judiciary has got back its prestige and dignity and making decisions on merit,” he maintained. In a jibe at Captain (r) Safdar, Imran remarked that former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s son-in-law Captain (retd) Safdar was courting arrest as if he had conquered Kashmir. He said that the PTI, if elected to power, would restore the dignity and honour of bureaucracy, “which had been weakened by the PML-N leadership”. Published in Daily Times, July 9th 2018.