Emphatically denying that he was talking to the ‘establishment’, former prime minister and PTI founder Imran Khan said on Monday that even if there would be talks, those would be for the sake of the constitution and the country’s stability, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.
In an informal chat with journalists at the Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi, he said that people loved the armed forces of Pakistan because the latter defended them. “Pakistan Army represents the entire nation. But the government, instead of strengthening the institution, is bringing a bad name to it.”
In an apparent reference to the killings of Punjabi passengers in Balochistan today and other incidents of lawlessness, he said there was anarchy in the entire country as the crime rate was on the rise. “People are looted in broad daylight. And the government, which is the product of Form-47, has done nothing to alleviate people’s sufferings,” he said, and added, “Similarly, neither the government has cut down its expenditures nor has it taken steps to increase people’s income.”
The government, he went on to say, was borrowing loans, while the masses, on the other hand, were at the receiving end.
Imran prophesied that there would be more inflation following the next financial year’s budget. “What the government is doing right now is ‘suicide’,” he opined.
“Look at Bangladesh where the entire nation took to the streets to get its rights and eventually succeeded in throwing out Prime Minister Hasina Wajid,” he said, adding, “Only sheep can be herded; not humans.”
Referring to the statements by federal ministers in which they said that the past must be buried so that the country could move forward, the former prime minister said these were the same words, which Israel said to Palestinians. “The cell in which I have been kept is hot like an oven. Still, I don’t want any relief from the government.”
He said that people by voting for the PTI in the February 8 general elections in such large numbers, had repudiated the narrative built around the May 9 incidents of violence.
Imran said that for the fourth time, the jail staff had been changed. “It appears as if they are scared of me,” the PTI founder said.
He disclosed that rats had infested his wife Bushra Bibi’s prison. “When she offers prayers, rats fall on her from the top.”
Today, he said, he had informed the court about it.
Reporter: Hashir Ahsan