“The military intelligence agencies know who is doing what. I’m not corrupt. Neither am I amassing fortunes,” he said while speaking to a select group of media persons at his residence in Islamabad on Friday.
“The military stands by the government. There is no strain in our relations.”
A guessing game has been ongoing in the media about the government’s relations souring with the establishment. Last year’s protest sit-in by JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman and the recent tiff with coalition partners provided grist to the rumour mill.
Bringing the politico-religious leader into the equation, the prime minister called for trying him for “conspiring to topple his government”. “He [Fazl] should be charged under Article 6 of the Constitution,” he added.
Wheat, sugar crises due to govt's negligence: PM Imran
The JUI-F chief claims that he had called off his 13-day-long sit-in only after receiving an “assurance” that Premier Imran would resign in 2020 and fresh elections would be held within three months of his resignation.
The prime minister also said his government would introduce electoral reforms to ensure that free and fair elections are held in future. A bill will be tabled in parliament to introduce biometric voting, he added.
“The government also plans to bring changes in the Senate elections in an effort to stop horse trading. Members of the upper house of parliament should be elected through show of hands,” he added.
The prime minister also spoke about rising food inflation in the country but largely blamed his predecessors for it.
The government had to devalue the currency to address the current account deficit crisis, which caused inflation. But he admitted that the wheat and sugar crises and inflation caused by it “was avoidable”.
COMMENTS
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ