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“Pakistan must never become involved in wars of other countries. As a society, we must decide to help bring people together for peace, but we must never enter into any alliance which is for war,” the PTI chief said.
Khan was responding to a question on Pakistan’s foreign policy with specific reference to war on terror during an interaction with media persons here on Friday.
Pakistan’s recent decision to join the Saudi-led military alliance was harshly criticised by PTI. The party decided to take up the issue in forthcoming session of Parliament.
Imran Khan always opposed Pakistan’s active participation in the ‘US-sponsored’ war on terror initiated in the wake of the 9/11 terror attacks and in the past, he advocated initiating talks with Taliban.
Rise against corruption, Imran tells nation ahead of Panamagate verdict
“Any country following such immoral foreign policy that does injustice upon its own people is bound to suffer its consequences,” Khan said.
He said that consequences of this foreign policy included militancy, proliferation of drugs and Jihadi outfits and sectarian divisions in society.
“Those who don’t learn from their mistakes are condemned to repeat those mistakes,” Khan said. He said Pakistan had achieved nothing but destruction from CIA-run drone strike programme.
Pakistan – A Security State
Commenting on civilian-military ties, Khan said Pakistan was a security state.
“Fear of security always haunted the minds of the people of Pakistan. It has made the institution of military stronger over time as people rely on military for security,” PTI chief observed.
He said repeated military interventions in the past had weakened the country. He said he did not see any military intervention in Pakistan’s future because of the presence of social and electronic media.
“Social and electronic media has educated the people about their rights. Mentally, people of Pakistan have been moving towards a more democratic system,” he said.
Charter of demands
PTI will soon come up with an eight-point charter of demand, based on the findings of a judicial commission that probed allegations of rigging in the 2013 general elections to ensure transparency in the next general elections.
When asked about PTI’s strategy regarding the 2018 general elections, he said: “It will be a set of rules. And government’s endorsement will be sought for it to ensure transparency in next elections.”
Talking about the Panama Papers case, Khan said that in the past, the judicial system always sided with the powerful but this time around he was hopeful that a powerful man would be convicted of corruption.
He said he also hoped that the verdict was announced next week.
Khan said that he wanted to become the country’s prime minister just to focus on strengthening state institutions and alleviate poverty in Pakistan.
Commenting on US President Trump, he said: “He [Trump] is not as bad I had thought … He is far worse. I feel sad for the US … Under Trump, the US is on a decline.”
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