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Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman on Wednesday announced he will “resume” his “Haqiqi Azadi” (real freedom) movement from Saturday (Sept. 24) though was light on details as he urged the public to be ready to take to the streets on his call.
Addressing the All Pakistan Lawyers Convention in Lahore, he said the PTI’s supporters and party workers should be ready for demonstrations, as he reiterated that establishing the “rule of law” was essential for a stable Pakistan. “If the justice system is not right, then the country’s economy won’t be streamlined,” he said, adding attracting investment was also difficult in this scenario.
The ousted prime minister has been warning of a mass protest movement for several months, having earlier attempted one in May that he called off after police acted against it. The initial pull-back was announced to be for just six days, but four months later has yet to materialize.
In his speech on Wednesday, he claimed the IMF and World Bank had said Pakistan is becoming another Sri Lanka—though he did not mention the part of the global lenders’ reports that directly implicated his government as a major contributor to the prevailing economic crisis. “Today, Pakistan’s inflation is at a historic high. We will pull Pakistan out of this,” he claimed, without offering any suggestions for the same.
Reiterating his claims of Pakistan no longer needing any loans if 500,000 overseas Pakistanis were to invest in the country—a “plan” he had earlier voiced ahead of the 2018 general elections after which his government secured the largest number of loans of any regime—he suggested supremacy of law was the only thing setting apart developing nations from developed ones.
“Name one western country whose prime minister’s property worth billions is abroad,” he said, praising Indian P.M. Narendra Modi for not having any property overseas.
The ousted prime minister also reiterated his demand for anyone receiving threatening calls from “unknown numbers” to issue their own threats in retaliation while reminding them that freedom of expression was a constitutional right. “I haven’t seen people issuing threats from unknown numbers,” he said of foreign countries.