Ex-prime minister Imran Khan Wednesday slammed Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Raja Sultan, saying he is anti-PTI and has given many verdicts against his party.
The PTI chairman spoke at length on social media about his party’s challenges and problems faced after coming into power in August 2018, stressing that NRO II will be disastrous for the country.
“Ex-president Pervaiz Musharraf gave Asif Zardari and Nawaz Sharif NRO I, and now if they both are given NRO II, no one will accept the justice system in Pakistan and it is dangerous for the country,” said Imran Khan.
Imran Khan was speaking during a Twitter Spaces session, which attracted hundreds of thousands of listeners from all over the world.
The former prime minister has lately been holding rallies and public gatherings in the country as a part of the PTI’s campaign to galvanize public support for an early election in the country and his participation in Twitter space was also a part of that campaign.
Talking about the current political scenario and his ouster through the no-trust motion, the ex-prime minister said that in his first speech after coming into power, he had said that they all [the current ruling alliance] would unite against him.
“I had mentioned it in my very first speech as PM that in the name of democracy, all other parties will campaign against me,” he said.
Imran Khan turns guns on former aides
Without taking names but in an apparent reference to his disgruntled party members Aleem Khan and Jehangir Khan Tareen, Imran Khan said that they tried to take advantage of the PTI’s government.
“Some of our people had thought that they would make money after coming into power, but we tried to stop them,” he added.
Imran Khan went on to say: “When prices of sugar had risen to Rs26, our government tried to stop them but those people exposed themselves,” he said.
‘CEC is anti-PTI’
Khan also expressed dissatisfaction with the Chief Election Commission (CEC) Sikandar Raja Sultan. On Monday, Khan had said a deadlock emerged between the then Opposition and government on the appointment of the chief election commissioner.
In light of the situation, the establishment suggested Sultan’s name, he had said, adding that the CEC should be appointed through an independent body.
However, during the Twitter Spaces session, Imran Khan said: “CEC Sultan Raja is too much anti-PTI as he has announced many decisions against our party.”
“If the investigation into the party funding of all political parties is conducted, including PML-N, and PPP, I can challenge that only PTI has proper data of foreign funding, however, both PML-N and PPP will not be able to provide such data,” he asserted.
Lettergate
Talking about the “letter gate” conspiracy in which Imran Khan claimed that the US government was involved in ousting him from power through a no-trust motion, he said: “I had invited the heads of the then opposition alliance to see the letter but they did not come”.
The ex-prime minister further said that no one should speak against Pakistan Army as the country needs army more than Imran Khan.
“When Nawaz Sharif was ousted, he had started speaking against institutions,” he said, adding that, “the country would have been divided into three pieces if Pakistan Army was not there.”
‘Traitors’
The PTI chairman also termed dissident party MNAs traitors. It is worth mentioning here that before the no-confidence motion against Imran Khan, around 24 members of the PTI had announced to part ways with the ruling party.
“During the current scenario, many electable kept standing with us but several of them betrayed us for their personnel interests,” he said.
‘Allies were blackmailing’
Shedding light on the preparation for the upcoming election in the country, Imran Khan said: “I had not given party tickets in 2018 elections, however, this time I will give tickets after a proper scrutiny.”
Imran Khan also termed his experience of running the country with a coalition government “worst of all”.
He said that his government had been passed through a very difficult time as PTI had a very thin majority in the National Assembly.
“Due to the coalition government, we were blackmailed most of the time and every time the PTI government had to compromise for passing laws,” he said, adding that “therefore, I ask the masses to vote for the PTI next time for a clear majority so we could build a strong government.”