File photo of PTI chief Imran Khan
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan on Sunday marked one year since his ouster as prime minister by reiterating warnings of mass agitation if elections in Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa did not take place as scheduled.
“There is no other way except the elections,” he told supporters via video-link from his Zaman Park residence in Lahore, referring to a Supreme Court ruling directing the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to conduct polls in Punjab on May 14. Accusing the incumbent government of violating fundamental rights and “ruining” the economy, he claimed the nation was aware of its rights and would fight for them by standing with the judiciary—even if it had to come out on the roads to make its voice heard. “We should be ready for all kinds of situations,” he said, adding that the threat of PTI leaders being arrested persisted.
Reiterating allegations of former Army chief Gen. (retd.) Qamar Javed Bajwa plotting—alongside Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif—to topple his government with the help of former ambassador Husain Haqqani, he claimed it had been done to secure a second extension to Bajwa’s tenure. Breaking from his year-long campaign of a “U.S.-instigated regime change,” he claimed that’s it was Bajwa who had orchestrated the “conspiracy” by “hiring” Haqqani to convince the U.S. that Khan was against America while the former Army chief favored it. “The cipher came only after the conspiracy had taken its roots,” he claimed, rubbishing the narrative he and his party have been propagating since March 2022. “Would anyone question the man [Bajwa] who ravaged all the country’s indicators for his extension, which was promised by P.M. Shehbaz Sharif?” he claimed, without making any mention of his own offers for an additional extension to Bajwa.
The PTI chief said his party was marking one year since his government’s ouster by issuing a “white paper” detailing how Pakistan had deteriorated since then. Claiming his government had inherited a “bankrupt economy” in 2018, he said the PTI-led government had stabilized it while tackling the coronavirus pandemic. Lamenting that economic growth had slid from 6 percent to 0.4 percent today, he said this had pushed at least four million people below the poverty line. “The 12 percent inflation has now risen to almost 35 percent,” he added.
Maintaining that the incumbent government had faced no “crisis,” he also claimed—after months of denials—that the PTI had seen a surge in terrorism during its time in government but had managed to control it. Reiterating his support of “rehabilitating” the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, he regretted that if this had been done when the Afghan Taliban sent them back to Pakistan—under an agreement with Khan’s government—the banned group’s militants would have been resettled in tribal districts.
On his prohibited funding case, Khan claimed it had “ended”—despite it still pending before the ECP—adding that the Toshakhana case would also come to naught. “Nawaz Sharif and Asif Ali Zardari would now be caught in this case,” he claimed.
The former prime minister also accused the incumbent government of “targeting media” by imposing restrictions through “unknown people,” claiming it was coercing TV channels against broadcasting his speeches. “This is the state of freedom of speech that even the head of the country’s biggest political party is not allowed to speak to the masses,” he claimed, adding that clashes between the PTI and the government had been an attempt by authorities to worsen the security situation to delay elections.
The PTI chief also reiterated claims of 144 cases registered against him—the government claims it is less than 50—and summarized the attempt on his life last November.
White paper
The PTI’s “white paper” seeks to highlight the incumbent government’s “poor governance, rising inflation and other issues.” Spanning 51 pages, it is divided into six sections and details alleged human rights violations of the ruling coalition, as well as outlining the economic crisis. It also highlights issues related to the Constitution, democracy and rule of law, political exploitation of state institutions, attack on judiciary, ‘chained’ foreign policy, and law and order.