Govt to deal with anti-military rhetoric, says Imran

PM warns India is behind terrorism in Balochistan

QUETTA:

Prime Minister Imran Khan on Saturday said that those making anti-military statements and attacking the national institutions would not be spared, and reiterated his oft-repeated stance that opposition leaders would not get any amnesty over corruption cases from him.

Speaking with the digital media representatives during a visit to Quetta, the prime minister pointed out that former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, and other Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leaders, including Ahsan Iqbal and Khawaja Asif, had residences abroad. “The country's prime minister, foreign minister and interior minister were working for foreign companies,” Imran said, adding that Khawaja Asif was working for a foreign company, while serving as defence minister and foreign minister of Pakistan.“They possessed the Iqamas [resident permits].

The purpose of the Iqama was toprotect the stolen money, as because of the Iqamas, the repatriation of the looted wealth becomes difficult,” the prime minister told the media representatives. Imran said he had taken a difficult path of not giving the corrupt any amnesty. “My life will be easier if I give NRO to the gang of corrupts, he said, referring to the political amnesty granted by former military ruler Pervez Musharraf through the now-defunct National Reconciliation Ordinance. The prime minister said that former president Musharraf was better than the leaders of these two parties – the PML-N and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) – but he [Musharraf] was wrong in giving them the NRO.

“I had opposed Musharraf's NROs.”Commenting on the ant-government campaign launched by the opposition from the platform of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), the prime minister dubbed the 11-party alliance as “a gang of thieves, looters and robbers”.“The PDM is a gang of thieves, looters and robbers, but it is a decisive battle and I have decided not to bow to them,” he said. “The country is destroyed not by the corruption at the lower level but because of the corruption of those in the government.”Imran said that because of the corruption of those leaders, Pakistan was placed on the grey list of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). “They want to push Pakistan into the FATF blacklist,” he said, adding that the opposition tried to blackmail him on the FATF issue.

Today, [former president Asif] Zardari and [former prime minister] Nawaz Sharif have come together. I knew long ago that they would become one,” the prime minister said. “I was asked in writing to give an NRO to these leaders.”

Democratic era

Commenting on the PDM leaders’ anti-establishment rhetoric in their political gatherings, the prime minister said that those giving speeches against the military would not be spared. “They are telling the army to overthrow an elected democratic government,” he said. In the past, Imran said, the military leadership was criticised during the martial laws, “but now, in the democratic era, why are they targeting the military”, adding:

“It is for the first time in Pakistan’s history that institutions are being maligned in a democratic era.”He also slammed the opposition’s “hypocritical stance” towards the coronavirus pandemic. “I was pressured to impose a complete lockdown in the first Covid-19 wave. “But now when the second wave, and a more dangerous one, has set in, they are holding rallies and planning marches,” he said.The prime minister termed the killing of 11 colliers in Machh area of the Bolan district last week “an unfortunate incident”, saying that he was “deeply saddened” by the atrocities committed against the Hazara community.“India is behind terrorism in Balochistan,” Imran said.

“Some terrorist groups and ISIS [the extremist Islamic State group, which claimed the Machh massacre on Sunday last] has India’s support,” the prime minister added.“I had informed the cabinet in March about India's efforts for inciting sectarian clashes in Pakistan. India is trying to trigger Shia-Sunni riots in Pakistan,” Imran said.

“We are taking all possible steps for the security of the Hazara community.”However, Imran praised the intelligence agencies for doing their level best to prevent such clashes and thwarting the nefarious Indian designs. “Our security agencies have arrested several groups before carrying out terrorist activities,” the prime minister added. The prime minister said that though “our security forces are constantly on the move” but a tragic incident took place in the remote area of Machh. However, headded, all possible steps would be taken to prevent such incidents from being repeated in the future.About the development of Balochistan, he said that the population of the province was just about the size of the Faisalabad Division of Punjab.

Because of the low number of votes, he added, the previous governments did not pay any attention to Balochistan.
Under the previous governments, Sardars became rich while the people of Balochistan remained poor. However, “our government is paying special attention to the development of Balochistan”. “Jam Kamal Khan is a good chief minister and we are working with him,” he added.

(WITH INPUT FROM NEWS DESK)