Imran sceptical about army chief’s appointment on merit

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman and former prime minister Imran Khan said on Friday the next army chief should be appointed on merit but expressed his doubt that the incumbent government would do so.

Addressing the PTI’s ‘Haqeeqi Azadi March’ via a video link from Lahore, Imran said that the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo Nawaz Sharif always elevated those persons who could benefit him personally.

“Every major decision about the country will be taken by this criminal, who has been taking money out of the country. Nawaz Sharif was convicted by the JIT [joint investigation team which investigated corruption cases against him], now he will take the country’s decision,” he added.

Imran lashed out at Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, saying that he was facing conviction by courts in the cases filed by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA). “But instead, Shehbaz Sharif was made the prime minister and all the witnesses in the cases against him died in two months,” he claimed.

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Imran said Shehbaz went to London to take important decisions of Pakistan with the consultation of his “absconder” brother. “Prime Minister of Pakistan [Shehbaz] is visiting Britain to meet his brother, who escaped to London under the guise of medical treatment,” he added.

“The one [Nawaz] who looted country for the 30 years will make decisions about army chief’s appointment, elections date and caretaker set-up,” he said. “No one can even imagine that this could happen in a civilised society.”

Imran said the decisions that are being taken in London were not aimed at strengthening the national institutions “because Sharif family does not believe in merit”, adding: “They tried to buy off judges and they [PML-N] attacked former chief justice Sajjad Ali Shah because he was not under their control.”

During the previous PTI government, Imran said, the then opposition brought out three long marches to get NRO – a reference to the political amnesty granted by former military ruler Pervez Musharraf through the National Reconciliation Order (NRO) in 2007.

“His aim of coming to power was only to end corruption cases worth Rs1,100 billion,” the PTI chairman alleged. “These people control the institutions to save their stolen money. Shehbaz has appointed his henchman in NAB [the National Accountability Bureau]. They weakened the FIA law.”

Imran claimed former president Asif Zardari and the PML-N supremo destroyed the country by plundering national wealth. “The country will not need any IMF [International Monetary Fund] bailout package if the plundered wealth was recovered from Nawaz and Zardari.”

Imran told the march participants that he was the former prime minister of the country yet he could not lodge a first information report (FIR) “because the powerful” stood before him. “Here, the powerful people are not jailed but deals are struck with them,” he charged further.

Repeating his allegations against Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja, Imran said that the incumbent CEC was a “servant” of the Sharif family and under him fair and transparent elections were not possible in the country.

“I have been trying for two years to bring the electronic voting machine (EVM) in the country to eliminate rigging in the election,” Imran continued but added: “Together with the Election Commission [of Pakistan (ECP)], they did not allow the EVM”.

Imran also said that he was not afraid. “They thought I will be scared after getting shot, or [PTI Senator] Azam Swati, who is an elderly man, will be scared after the video [leak]”. He also referred to the killing of journalist Arshad Sharif, saying: “What crime did he commit that he was killed.”

Concluding his address, the former prime minister told the gathering: “Do not fear anyone… this is all happening to scare us but don’t bow down to [these tactics].” He urged his supporters to participate in the PTI’s long march for their future.

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Imran claimed that the assailant, who shot at him during his long march procession in Wazirabad last week was a “trained shooter” and that the assailant’s profile did not match that of a religious fanatic. “He was not a religious fanatic, this was a trained shooter,” he said.

He repeated his earlier claim that there were two shooters and reiterated that the government was behind the attack, aw “he had already known about the plot and that it was concocted two months ago”. Imran accused Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah of extrajudicial killings.

Imran also claimed that he would be able to provide all the circumstantial evidence for his claims to an investigation. “Whenever there is an independent investigation, these three will be [found] involved,” the PTI chairman added. He said he would recover in four weeks.