LAHORE:
Former prime minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan has said that he was not responsible for the resurgence of terrorism in the country.
“I am not part of the government… how can I be blamed for it (rise in terrorism),” he said while addressing his supporters from his Zaman Park resident in Lahore on Wednesday.
While condemning the suicide attack in Peshawar, he claimed that the government was trying to delay elections on the pretext of the security situation.
Imran underscored that there is no ambiguity in Article 105 of the Constitution that after the dissolution of the assembly, elections should be held within the 90 days. “Whoever will try to deviate from the Constitution will have to face Article 6,” he warned.
The PTI chief said he opted for the constitutional way by “sacrificing” his two governments for bringing stability to the country and his strategy worked out well.
“Now, the government is trying to escape from elections on the pretext of security situation because they are used to play a fixed match. They are habitual of playing by appointing their own umpires at their own pitch,” he said while using cricketing terminologies.
He said that the government was trying to imprison “the captain of the opposing team and targeting its main players.”
Read more: Dissolving assemblies was the best strategy, claims Imran
Imran also spoke at length about the causes of the deteriorating security situation in the K-P and pointed out that he had categorically told the former army chief Gen (retd) Qamar Javed Bajwa that the economic and security situation would go out of hand if he allowed to succeed the ‘regime change operation’.
He stressed that there is only one solution to pull out the country of the current chaos which is free and fair elections in the country. “Only an elected and strong government constituted through public mandate can make difficult decisions and bring political and economic stability in the country,” he maintained.
Earlier, while speaking to senior journalists, Imran said he was standing by his statement given about PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari, adding that the former president is free to file the defamation suit against him as “defamation is claimed by those who themselves have any respect”.
“I welcome the defamation suit filed by the PPP. I have very solid information that Zardari is among four people who were planning to assassinate him,” he added.
Imran said that two plans were made earlier against him but they failed. “This time they will try to disguise it like a suicide bomber attacking Imran Khan,” he said and added that he also knows the name of other officials who are involved in the conspiracy.
Lashing out at the caretaker Punjab government, he said that it has already appointed 13 out of the total of 22 anti-PTI officers in the province despite the party’s reservations.
The former prime minister said that fake cases were being registered against PTI leaders and workers. “I have never seen a caretaker government which is involved in such activities and not focused on its prime mandate of holding free and fair elections,” he added.
Meanwhile, PTI leader Farrukh Habib has castigated the coalition government for the high inflation rate and the recent hike in the prices of petroleum products.
While addressing a press conference in Lahore, he observed that the inflation rate which was 12 per cent during the PTI’s government has increased to 27 per cent under the incumbent government.
“Despite all the ‘genius’ and ‘experienced’ people present in the government, inflation has broken the back of the people,” he said.
Farrukh said that the cost of living has skyrocketed during the tenure of the incumbent government, adding that by hiking the prices of petrol and diesel by Rs35 each, the government has committed cruelty to the people who were already hard-pressed by the unprecedented inflation.
He pointed out that the government would again increase the electricity tariffs on the demand of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
He further said that the law did not exist in the country, as anyone who utters a word was charged with sedition.
