'Course correction, not conspiracies' reflected on social media: Imran

Former premier meets digital influencers; says with huge support comes colossal responsibility

ISLAMABAD:

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan said on Saturday that the debates being held on social media currently were more of a "course correction, rather than conspiracies".

The former premier's remarks came during a session held with digital media influencers. Imran said the public was standing with him, adding that with colossal support from the public comes great responsibility as well.

While holding a Q&A, he said social media was not showing any conspiracies but only a trend of course correction.

Emphasizing his growing public support, Khan said: “If I want to shut down Islamabad, I can do that easily. However, that will be my final step and I do not wish to go that far.”

Regarding the country’s financial crisis, Khan turned his guns towards Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, and said if the premier was serious he should bring his brother Nawaz Sharif’s wealth worth billions back to Pakistan.

Read Economic meltdown shows Sharifs only expertise is ‘money laundering’: Imran

The PTI supremo stressed on taking thoughtful decisions to save the country from economic loss.

Commenting on events leading up to the formation of the current Punjab government, Khan said the purpose was to get early elections and to oust PML-N leader Hamza Shahbaz from the chief minister’s office.

Furthermore, the ex-prime minister touched on the subject of his chief of staff Shahbaz Gill’s arrest on sedition charges, saying his remarks were the same as the ones made by the judges in the Asfar Khan case.

“So will the judges be arrested too now?” he asked.

He also attacked PML-N leader Uzma Bukhari, saying she should turn her husband Zahid Bukhari in. “Whatever information they are seeking from Shahbaz Gill, they can easily get that from Uzma’s husband,” he said.

During the meeting, he also discussed the controversy of the hateful social media campaign on the Lasbela copter crash martyrs, saying his party was dragged into the debacle deliberately.

Read more Attack on Salman Rushdie ‘unjustifiable’, says Imran

Regarding the next general elections, Imran said the more the polls get delayed, the more it benefits his party.

Rushdie attack

He also got a chance to clear the air regarding his recent comments given to The Guardian, which stirred controversy regarding the violent attack on author Salman Rushdie.

He said that his words were taken out of context, adding that he referred to the Sialkot incident in the interview where a Sri Lankan citizen became the target of a mob.

“No one should be allowed to take the law into their hands and kill anyone. The way Pakistan was highlighted globally after that incident was tragic,” he said.

The former premier had in an interview with the British newspaper said the attack on Rushdie was 'unjustifiable. "I think it is terrible, sad," Imran had told the newspaper.

"Rushdie understood, because he came from a Muslim family. He knows the love, respect, reverence of a prophet that lives in our hearts. He knew that. So the anger I understood, but you can't justify what happened," he was quoted saying by The Guardian.