Taking U-turn crucial for leaders, generals to rectify ‘mistakes’: Imran

Former premier says country can only move forward by adopting democratic attitudes

Former prime minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan has said that it was imperative for leaders and generals to take U-turns in order to identify and rectify their mistakes.

Addressing a seminar on “freedom of speech” in Islamabad on Saturday, the former premier said a country can never be “destroyed” if the courts were dispensing justice while lamenting that powerful people were above the law in Pakistan.

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Imran said the country’s institutions were weakened during the tenure of three military dictators. “When a dictator tries to become a democrat, he attempts to control all institutions including the media in a bid to portray false image of democracy.”

Reiterating his allegation of a foreign conspiracy, Imran said that US diplomat Donald Lu had threatened that Pakistan would suffer consequences if he was not ousted from power through a vote of no-confidence.

“Should an elected prime minister be removed in this way,” he asked, adding that efforts were also made to hide the cipher allegedly containing threat issued by the US envoy.

The former premier while referring to the Supreme Court judgement on the former deputy speaker’s ruling said the apex court instead of probing the alleged threat letter threatened to impose Article 6 on him.

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He went on to say that Pakistan has no other option other than holding a fair and transparent election to end the political deadlock in the country.

“Decisions are made in closed rooms… mistakes are made by everyone but mistakes should be recognised and rectified.”

Imran said the country could only be saved through democratic attitudes as imposing martial law was not possible now.

“If differences between the people and the army continue to grow, everyone will suffer. I can never see the army becoming weak. A strong army is what this country needs. We cannot afford a weak army. The army is our asset,” he remarked.