Vote for honest, trustworthy party leader; Proud to sound global alarm on Indian atrocities in Kashmir; Addresses election rallies in AJK
Our Correspondent Bhimber, Mirpur
Prime Minister Imran Khan Sunday asked former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and his other family members, residing in the United Kingdom, to return home and face trials, saying judiciary in the country was fully independent.
“Judiciary in the country is fully independent as Imran Khan did not attack courts or contact judges for seeking favourable judgements.
I ask them a question – why are they sitting outside the country if they are honest and truthful, why they fear facing courts?” the prime minister said while addressing a public gathering held in connection with the upcoming general elections in Azad Jammu and Kashmir scheduled for July 25.
The prime minister said even Ishaq Dar, former finance minister, his son, Nawaz’s sons, and son-in-law of Shahbaz Sharif had been absconding in London to avoid accountability.
He said due to independent judiciary and accountability process, even PTI’s ministers were not spared. The courts and National Accountability Bureau were free and not under any control, he added.
“If these leaders are honest, then why they fear from the justice system,” the prime minister said.
Imran said that it was his dream to put the country on the right path and “this is the only way through which we can develop it”.
Khan said that his party and the nation are striving to make Pakistan a great country as the world always respects a self-reliant nation. He said past rulers mercilessly plundered country’s wealth and took refuge abroad.
He said poverty cannot be eliminated from a society without curbing corruption. Seeing a large number of people without observing Standard Operating Procedures against Covid-19 pandemic, Imran Khan appealed to supporters to continue wearing mask and adhering to SOPs to prevent the spread of the virus.
He said the pandemic was not yet over and “we will have to continue observing SOPs to protect ourselves and others form coronavirus”.
Imran Khan asserted Indian government was naive to assume Pakistani stance would be indifferent following the revocation of the special status of Kashmir on August 5.
They thought it would be like how it was in the past as Nawaz Sharif’s government did nothing to deter Indian brutality meted out in Kashmir, PM Imran Khan said.
He added the national policy stayed quiet when extra-judicial killings and pallet-gun assailing were carried out on their youth.
In the preceding government, the PM said, when Nawaz Sharif visited Kashmir he wouldn’t call on Kashmir freedom movement leaders to avoid risking relations with Narendra Modi. He said the ex-PM ordered his foreign ministry to avoid releasing statements against India.
He claimed before his stance, nobody recalled the Indian atrocities in Kashmir, and added that he voiced this concern across the world.
We have told the world how in RSS-ridden India the people in Kashmir do not have rights, he said.
Khan said that when one goes to vote in the Azad Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly polls on July 25, he must ask himself if the party leader is honest (sadiq) and trustworthy (ameen).
“Ask yourselves while casting the vote: are these leaders honest and trustworthy?” Imran Khan said that even if party leaders are not honest, and the candidates contesting the election are, “they will not be able to do anything (honest)”.
“But if your leader is honest and if the candidate is a cheat, he will fear doing anything (dishonest). If the leader is not chasing money, he won’t let others chase it either,” the premier said.
The prime minister said that if one does research on the poorest countries of the world, they will find that their state is such because there are “Nawaz Sharifs” and “Asif Ali Zardaris” there too.
“Their leaders are stealing the country’s wealth and taking it abroad.” “Wherever you find poverty, you will find the rule of force, not law. You will find corrupt leaders, prime ministers, ministers and parliament.”
Earlier, at the outset of his speech, the premier urged the crowd gathered to wear masks, as the threat of coronavirus is far from over.
“You all are standing very close together. I fear that I will hear later that many coronavirus cases emerged due to this rally,” he said.
The premier also lauded the spirit and determination of the crowd gathered, receiving a loud roar in response.
“A large portion of my life was spent playing cricket under the sun. Sitting on the stage here I felt my clothes drenched in sweat.
So when I look at all of you packed here together, I wish to pay special tribute to all of your determination,” he said.
Khan said he thinks of the future of the people of the country, especially the youth. “I want our country to be such that when one travels with the Pakistani passport they should be admired. The world should look at us with respect. The green passport should be respected. We should become a great nation,” he said.
Speaking of the Arabian peninsula at the time of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), he said there were two superpowers then, and the Arabs “had no standing” in society.
“They were bedouins and poor,” he said, adding that history bears witness that after Muslims migrated to Madina, one superpower knelt before the Muslims and after 14 years, another followed.
“The Arabs whom no one even looked upon, ended up ruling the world. What was the reason?”
The prime minister said that Muslims have been directed to follow the teachings of the Prophet (PBUH) and they will always achieve greatness if they do this.
“I want our nation to become a great nation. Unfortunately, we went off track. We began asking for aid and entering into other people’s wars. We brought destruction upon our own people. We lost our respect.
“No one respects a person who begs for alms and loans. You can test this out yourself,” Imran said.
He said even if a person asks his parents or siblings for money repeatedly, they began looking at the person differently. “No ones respects a country
that does not stand on its own two feet,” he said.
Khan said the country needs to change its ways. “We must adopt honesty and trustworthiness. Look at your own area. Look at Bhimber. Villages and cities all respect the man who is honest and just. This is a person’s nature (to be drawn towards such
people). This is God-given.”
The prime minister asked the youth to also ask themselves this: “When the courts of Pakistan are free, when Imran Khan does not attack the Supreme Court armed with sticks, when Imran Khan does not pick up the phone and tell the judge to give a
convict five years instead of three, when Lahore High Court is not controlled by the PTI and is free, then why have they run away abroad? Who are they afraid of?”
“The weaker segments of society are jailed and the powerful get an NRO and go abroad and watch their grandson play polo,” he said, in another jibe at Nawaz Sharif who recently went to a polo match played by his grandson and Maryam Nawaz’s son,
Junaid Safdar.
