Our Correspondent
Chakwal
Prime Minister Imran Khan on Saturday said that now Pakistan needs a strong army “like never before,” because never before was there a government in India like today. “Extremist, totalitarian, racist, anti-Muslim, anti-Islam and anti-Pakistan, […] and with what they are doing to the Kashmiris, it’s unprecedented.”
Addressing an event in Chakwal, where the premier laid the foundation stone for several development projects, he said: “The way the political opposition of Pakistan has attacked the Pakistan Army, this has never happened before in our history.”
The premier said that under such circumstances, the “Opposition is telling the army to remove an elected government from power and remove the army chief is he is unwilling to do so”.
“They are telling the army to do a military coup in the country and they call themselves democratic.” Imran said, in a never before seen manner, the Opposition is “targeting” the army and criticising it just like the “India propaganda machine”. “I have brought the sort of projects here that will bring a change in society. People ask what change really is. Change takes place in the mind first, and then you see a difference on the ground. “Please remember this. People think change can be brought about with the push of a button. Change has to be ushered in by first bringing about a difference in the way people think,” the prime minister said.
He said that many people of the area — from Jhelum, Chakwal, and Mianwali — had joined the army and had rendered numerous sacrifices in the service of the armed forces. “So I know […] and our members of
parliament were saying this […] the way the political Opposition is levelling criticism on the army is unprecedented in Pakistan’s history,” PM Imran Khan said.
He said former military ruler Gen Pervez Musharraf was also criticised but he was the country’s leader as well as the army chief, “so yes of course he was criticised”.
“But the sort of language that is being used for the army today is the kind that India’s propaganda machine uses against the army.”
Imran Khan predicted, “I can give you in writing that there will be a forward bloc in opposition if they move to resign from assemblies.”
“Why would elected representatives who spent millions on their election campaign will resign on their orders,” Imran Khan said adding that the opposition leaders want their lawmakers to sacrifice for them to hide their looted wealth.
He said that the opposition considers the masses as fools but Lahorites showed them that they were not fools as they rejected the PDM’s public gathering at Minar-e-Pakistan.
He then spoke of the EUDisinfo Lab unearthing at least 700 fake Indian websites in which they would publish news on the name of deceased individuals even.
“The sole purpose was to paint Pakistan in a bad light, so that foreign investors stay away. And then the Pakistan army was especially targeted because India wants to weaken us,” the prime minister said.
He said that India has always been planning to present Pakistan Army as “a rogue army and terrorists.” “Narendra Modi would openly call the last army chief a terrorist.”
Imran said that these fake websites “would also promote” the Opposition’s activities. He said that “there are many journalists also who promote them and were part of the disinformation campaign.”
“For the first time, the Opposition is targeting Pakistan’s army. The army chief and the ISI chief. And they are saying the army was involved in rigging and so the government is selected. “So then, did you go to the Election Commission, the Supreme Court, the Parliament?”
He said that the Opposition has been decrying “rigged elections” for the past two years but has not provided any proof. Citing the example of the recently held presidential elections in the US, he said that when a hue and cry over rigging was raised, the media was the first to ask for proof.
The premier said that the Opposition only holds its own interests dear and not those of the country. He said that the Opposition’s sole aim is for the government to give them an NRO in some way. “They want to blackmail us. They know they can’t do that to me, so they have set their sights on institutions, thinking they can pressurise me to forgive them NRO.”
He said that the opposition, in an effort to save its ill-gotten gains, was attacking a national institution which is needed now more than ever as “never before has there been such a government in India in the history of the subcontinent”.
He added that India was carrying out terrorism in Balochistan and the country’s merged areas in an effort to spread anarchy. “Our jawans are sacrificing their lives. I have never seen an opposition trying to undermine its country like this just to get an NRO.”
He stated that when the PTI took over governance, half of the money collected under taxes was spent on paying debt installments. He added that the debt increased in the second year of governance due to interest.
“Therefore, we don’t have as much money to spend on the people. This is what happens when corrupt people come into power. They destroy the whole system from the top to the bottom.”
The premier said that no country can progress without educating its people, “This doesn’t even happen in fairy tales.”
Education doesn’t have immediate returns, he said. The way our democracy has evolved, we think of tangible projects that allow us to win the next election, he said. “A government which thinks about the next generation prioritises education.”
He said that Pakistan had the second youngest population in the world. “The more value we can add to this segment of the population, if we equip them with the necessary skills, then the country will leap forward.”
He predicted that the two projects he inaugurated today namely Chakwal University and the Centre of Excellence would produce great talent if attention is paid on recruiting quality teachers.
He added that the 500-bed hospital, that was among the projects he laid the foundation stone for, was also a necessary project. “I again reiterate that we will support you. But the government can’t make all the hospitals that the country requires.”
He said that the health cards introduced by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab will help upgrade the country’s healthcare system, adding that the government was facilitating private hospitals so that they can establish facilities.
He said that when people ask him about what he sees for the country at the end of his term, he envisions an end to the country’s debts and fiscal deficit so that Pakistan can stand on its own feet.
“Our current account has been in surplus for the past five months. This has happened for the first time in 17 years. Our next major push has to be on the country’s fiscal deficit.”
“We are concentrating on increasing income and wealth creation. I fully believe that when our five years are up, we’ll have lessened the burden of loans,” he said, adding that the government was also focusing on improving the life of the common man.
Imran Khan said that Opposition groups call themselves democratic parties while on the other hand they call for army to overthrow the elected government.
Earlier, Imran Khan has laid foundation stone of various development projects in Chakwal on Saturday. The inaugurated projects include Chakwal University, five hundred-bed hospital, a Law College and the Ring Road.
