Former premier Imran Khan on Tuesday maintained that he never wanted to weaken the army as Pakistan has been spared by “wrath” that other Muslim countries had faced due to a strong army.
“Unlike my opponents, my criticism of the military is always positive. It is constructive and for its own improvement,” he told a rally in Peshawar. Imran cited how Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) leaders had passed offensive comments against the army in the past. Clips of all those statements by the incumbent government leaders were played on the big screen as the charged crowd of PTI supporters chanted slogans against them. “What we do is constructive criticism,” he said, highlighting that “we are the people who would strengthen the country’s institutions.” “This is my country and this is
my army why would I want to weaken it,” he said.
The ousted premier said a “cabal of crooks” is running propaganda against him to pit his party against the army. “Every well-wisher of any institution will speak about merit because institutions can only progress when they are strengthened.”Imran, while referring to Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo and three-time prime minister Nawaz Sharif, asked the charged crowd, “Should a ‘thieve absconder and convict’ be allowed to appoint Pakistan’s army chief.” “They are trying to pit Pakistan’s biggest political party against the army they are planning to disqualify me first and then to turn Pakistan’s institutions including the judiciary against me through propaganda” Referring to Dawn Leaks, the PTI chief said the Sharif brothers sent a message to India that Pakistan’s army was supporting terrorism while they had no role in it. “Likewise, Zardari through Hussian Haqqani asked a US official to save his government from the military,” Imran said while referring to the Memogate scandal “Should we hand over such an important decision-making to these thieves? No we will never,” he vowed. Imran Khan said the coalition partners – including PML-N, PPP and JUI-F – were trying to disqualify him through their “puppet” Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikander Sultan Raja. “These stooges have realised they cannot win this match and they will lose elections to me whenever they are held.”
The PTI chief said the incumbent rulers came into power through a “foreign conspiracy engineered by the United States “to save themselves from accountability. “Because if I stayed in power they all will be convicted of corruption and put behind bars.” Imran also asked his supporters to remain prepared for his call for the real freedom “as come what may, we will never accept them [government]”. The PTI chief also slammed the PML-N for attacking the judiciary. “When I started politics 26 years back, we were the first to stand up for the judiciary. There was only one leader who went to jail for the judiciary and boycotted the 2008 elections for them,” he said.
Imran pointed out that the PTI always respected the judiciary because it believed in the rule of law. Referring to his comments on additional sessions judge Zeba Chaudhry, the ex-premier said that if it seemed like he had used a hard tone against her it was because he had seen the “custodial torture of Shahbaz Gill”. “If it looked like my statements were harsh, this was not my intention. I can’t ever think of threatening a judge,” Imran said. At the beginning of his address, Imran claimed that the government was trying to create misunderstandings between the Pakistan Army and the country’s “largest party”. “This gang of robbers have realised that they can’t defeat us. The three stooges know that they can’t win by playing the match […] So, now they are trying to disqualify me. Sometimes it is Toshakhana, sometimes it is the election commission. They have declared me to be a terrorist in court.
“They are just trying to stop Imran Khan from playing the match,” he said. Imran went on to allege that the government was hatching “dangerous conspiracies” that included turning the institutions against the PTI only to “win the match”. “They have a propaganda cell that only tries to turn whatever I say against the army or the judiciary.” But, Imran said that people were now “politically aware”. “Today, I want to tell you that until and unless our institutions are not strong, the country cannot succeed,” the PTI chief said. “The nation has realised that they [the PDM] are trying to pit the PTI against the institutions. “The more you try to push PTI against the wall, the more I will fight you,” he warned. Imran claimed that the incumbent government had been imposed on the nation to weaken the country and called on his supporters to join PTI’s movement of “haqeeqi azaadi” (true freedom).