Didn’t enter politics to keep a lid on potato prices: PM

HAFIZABAD:

Prime Minister Imran Khan on Sunday maintained that his main objective of joining politics 25 years ago was not to check the prices of “potatoes and tomatoes” but to make Pakistani people a great nation.

“I did not need to come into politics because I had achieved everything in my life. I entered politics only for the future of the [Pakistani] youth,” he said while delivering a hard-hitting speech to a political gathering in Hafizabad.

The premier further said it was the responsibility of the “State” and judiciary to stop the "corrupt and convicted" politicians, who he claimed were trying to topple his government through horse-trading.

The prime minister’s remarks came in the wake of the united opposition front submitting a requisition for a no-confidence motion against him on March 8, pinning its hopes for its success on the estranged members of the ruling party and its allies.

PM Imran maintained that he was not worried by the opposition's bid to oust him through a no-confidence motion.

He added that the nation would see that those trying to oust him from his office would get buried under their own conspiracy.

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“The people will witness that the ‘three rats’ who have united to dislodge the government will eventually get preyed upon themselves,” he claimed, apparently referring to opposition leaders PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif, PPP Co-Chairperson Asif Ali Zardari, and JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman.

While criticising the politics of ethnicity, the premier said the national cohesion could only be achieved when people belonging to all ethnicities shared the same ideology.

“We can never become one nation unless we give up slogans such as ‘Wake up Punjabi’ and ‘Sindhu Desh’, and stop running independence movements.”

The premier went on to say that when he rebuked the envoys of European countries for asking Pakistan to explicitly condemn Russia for attacking Ukraine, “Shehbaz Sharif, Maulana Fazlur Rehman and Bilawal Bhutto Zardari were “trembling”.

“I have spent a long time in the West and I know the West better than them… whoever polishes their [West] boots they look down on them.”

PM Imran further said the US had carried out 400 drone strikes inside Pakistan from 2008 to 2013 but the then governments led by the PPP and PML-N had never opposed them.

“We want cordial relations with all countries but will not compromise on national interest... I would not bow down to anyone nor would I allow the nation to give in before anyone.”

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On the contrary, the prime minister said, he had always opposed those drone strikes, staged sit-ins, and gave statements in the US and UK, calling these attacks a grave violation of basic human rights and global principles.

Sharing one such experience, the premier said he had asked a group of European representatives whether or not they would allow use of drone against a “terrorist and criminal” sitting in London who had “killed scores of people in Karachi”, apparently referring to MQM founder Altaf Hussain.

The prime minister also expressed the confidence that Pakistan would soon become a great country and would set a precedent in the world by following the principles of “Riyasat-e-Madina”.

Commenting on the recent Indian missile blunder, he said Pakistan had adopted a prudent approach.
“Pakistan is a country that can defend itself. Pakistan is moving on the right path and its economy is set on the right course.”

The Indian defence ministry had said a missile "accidentally" entered Pakistan and fell in Khanewal district's Mian Channu area on March 9, attributing the incident to a "technical malfunction".

The prime minister said a true leader always raised the nation’s spirits and cited the example of founder of Pakistan Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah.

“The world respects that individual or the country that has self-respect,” he added.

“But as a prime minister of a country of 220 million, it is my first and foremost duty to protect the rights and interests of the country. I will not allow any policy which can inflict any harm to the motherland. I will not compromise upon the national interests just for appeasing any other state,” he claimed.

The prime minister also justified his criticism of the EU ambassadors’ open letter over Russian-Ukraine conflict, maintaining that it was against all diplomatic protocols. “Why didn’t they write such a letter to India? We are no slave to anyone,” he maintained.

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The premier also met the local leadership of the PTI in Hafizabad and discussed the overall political situation in the country as well as the progress and development of the district.

The local leaders expressed their complete confidence in the leadership of PM Imran.

Earlier in the day, an important meeting of the senior leadership of the ruling party was held under the chairmanship of PM Imran in which the strategy related to the no-confidence motion was discussed.

The prime minister said during the meeting that the opposition was not concerned about the people but their own corruption cases.

He added that they were in touch with the government allies, and a strategy had been devised to thwart the opposition's no-trust move.

 

With input from APP