Govt trying to ‘get rid of me through treason case’

BUNER:

Former prime minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan has claimed that the coalition government – especially the ruling PML-N and the PPP – are making an attempt to set up a treason case against him so that he can be removed from the path and they could hide their corruption.

"I ask everyone that (Asif Ali) Zardari and Nawaz Sharif, who have everything of theirs in foreign countries, will now prosecute me for treason," the PTI chairman said while addressing a public gathering here on Friday.

Imran said Zardari who tells the US through former ambassador Hussain Haqqani to save him from the army and a fugitive and a liar – Nawaz Sharif, who was caught in the Panama case, will decide that “I am a traitor”?

Imran termed Zardari a great disease of the country. “Zardari starts trembling as soon as he sees money. Similarly, there is Fazlur Rehman who should think why Allah humiliated him so much. Fazlur Rehman has always pursued a policy of self-interest.”

Imran said that there is a Nawaz Sharif who never mentioned the name of Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav because the Sharif family has ties with the Indian business community.

“Nawaz Sharif never spoke against Narendra Modi … Modi called Pakistan's army chief a terrorist and PM a friend. India, the United States and Israel conspired together to bring in an imported government and topple our government," he said.

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Talking about the establishment, Imran said, “It is very good that neutral decided to be neutral … it is very good to be neutral but national integrity is very important.”

Sending a message to the Supreme Court, Imran said, “We had called a sit-in 126 days ago which was peaceful. We would never want a confrontation with the security forces of our country.

“I appeal to the judges that the committee you have formed is a government committee. I respectfully ask you to include people from civil society in this committee so that the facts come to light.”

The former PM was referring to his May 25 long march during which the Punjab police used force to stop the marchers from reaching the avenue of the sit-in.

On the performance of the PTI government, Imran said petrol became dearer by Rs56 per litre whereas in just two months of the PML-N government, petrol became expensive by Rs60.

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“In our time, diesel price went up by Rs50 while in during Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s tenure, it has gone up by Rs60 per litre.”

Similarly, he said, the price of a 20kg bag of flour increased by Rs326 whereas during the PML-N’s tenure, the same flour bag increased by Rs422, adding that flour was even more expensive in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa because the government provided subsidy only in Punjab.

Imran said that the price of ghee increased by Rs213 per kilo but in Shehbaz’s two months, it increased by Rs200.

“The price of rice increased by Rs40 during the PTI tenure and Rs56 in two months. In three years, the electricity tariff increased by Rs6 per unit, while in just two months, it has gone up by Rs10.”

Imran said that Moody's economic ranking for the country was negative when “we came to power, but we stabilised it while in these two months only yesterday Moody's has downgraded our country's credit rating from stable to negative”.