Staff Reporter
Islamabad
Prime Minister Imran Khan on Saturday said that he was not under any pressure from the Armed Forces of Pakistan. He said that the PTI was in charge of the country’s foreign policy.
“The army hasn’t [directed] me to do one thing which I did not want to do,” he said. “I would have resisted to the army if they exerted pressure on me. The entire foreign policy [being implemented today] is mine, you can check with the PTI’s manifesto,” he added.
The premier was being interviewed by a private news channel during which he spoke on various issues and also took aim at the Opposition leadership.
The prime minister said that Pakistan’s foreign policy today was centered around the PTI’s manifesto, adding that the world was praising Pakistan for advocating non-military solutions to conflicts.
“There was pressure on us to take a side in a conflict of any Muslim countries, we said we would remain neutral and play our role in uniting Muslim countries instead,” he said.
Responding to a question, he said that former PTI general-secretary Jahangir Tareen was going through “difficult times” but said that he would not interfere in the sugar inquiry investigation.
“Jahangir Tareen has been really close to us [in the past], we have worked together in the past closely,” he said. “Tareen says he is innocent. The investigation is going on, I will not interfere in matters of institutions,” added the prime minister.
Imran Khan said that under his government, an inquiry against the sugar cartel was launched for the first time in Pakistan’s history. He said that an FIR had also been registered against Tareen.
Imran Khan said US President Donald Trump would have easily won the 2020 US Presidential Election despite all the media projections against him, if it weren’t for the coronavirus pandemic.
“The most classic example is of Donald Trump. The way the entire mainstream media attacked [him], it appeared as if Trump would lose by a landslide. [Instead] he bagged the highest number of votes in American history; it’s a separate thing that [Joe] Biden received even more votes.”
The prime minister was asked about former Punjab government spokesperson Fayyaz Chohan who was shown the door a couple of weeks ago and Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan was appointed special assistant to the chief minister of Punjab.
“We need both Fayyaz Chohan and Firdous Ashiq Awan,” he said. “In order to win the match, you need to change the team sometimes,” added PM Imran Khan. The premier said that Chohan wanted a “strong” ministry which he had been given now.
Speaking further about the Punjab government, PM Imran Khan said that the PTI had brought in people on merit. “The same setup was in power in Punjab over the past 30 years,” he said. “We brought in people on merit.”
He said that the new IG Punjab was doing a fabulous job, adding that Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar was doing a commendable job as far as development projects were concerned.
“You will see that after five years, Usman Buzdar will be the number one chief minister in the country,” he said.
The Prime Minister Imran Khan said that he is all for freedom of media as he has been on media for the past 40 years.Criticism is an essential part of society and there has to be freedom in place
for it, he said in an exclusive interview to a private news channel.
The PM, however, said that what some segments of the media label as U-turns, are just parts of my strategy. He said some of the criticism on him is replete with malicious intent and those who perpetrate it are exposed on their own.
The reason behind my change in the strategy is to materialize a win, he said, adding that even in the times of cricket, he had to tolerate people criticizing his decisions.
The Prime Minister said his only vision is to transform Pakistan into a welfare state and it is towards this goal that he has been struggling.
On the foreign front, he said that his government owns the foreign policy and underscored that Pakistan will not be a party to any controversy between any of the Islamic countries.
Furthermore, the PM said he was under no obligation to appoint Lieutenant General Asim Saleem Bajwa as CPEC authority head but that his experience convinced him to instate him.
Naeem Bukhari, who was PM Khan’s lawyer in the Panama Leaks case, was appointed the chairman of PTV’s board a few days ago. The premier said, however, his appointment was made on merit and it had nothing to do with Bukhari’s relationship with him.
“Naeem Bukhari has been associated with PTV since 1970s,” said PM Khan, adding that Bukhar has done several TV programmes for the state-run TV channel in the past 50 years.
“Naeem Bukhari is not an executive but the chairman of the board,” he said, explaining that the board, which has yet to be constituted, will make the policies for state-run TV channel.
In a recent interaction with the reporters, Bukhari had said that PTV will not be airing the opposition’s stance because it is government’s channel.
But PM Khan said he disagrees with him because he thinks the PTV’s credibility will go down if it becomes the government’s mouthpiece.
“The opposition should be given time
Imran Khan said that in Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government no case was registered against Nawaz Sharif or Asif Zardari, they registered cases against each other. Only cases have been registered against Shehbaz Sharif during PTI government.
Imran Khan said that Nawaz Sharif and Asif Zardari had registered cases against each other. He said that Pervez Musharraf gave NRO to Nawaz Sharif and Asif Zardar.
While talking about the corruption in the previous governments PM said that documentaries were made on corruption of Nawaz Sharif and Asif Zardari.
Prime Minister said we have made the institutions independent and there is no control of government on the National Accountability Bureau, however prisons department is under the control of the government.
In his answer to a question regarding FATF legislation he said that opposition blackmailed government over FATF legislation. The objective of the 34 amendments of the opposition was to get NRO. He, however, said those who plundered the national exchequer will be held accountable.