Nawaz aimed at army not COAS

ISLAMABAD: Terming the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) a circus, Prime Minister Imran Khan said on Saturday that PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif’s statement was not an attack on Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Gen Bajwa but the Pakistan Army.

Addressing a Tiger Force Convention here, the charged Prime Minister said that the statement of Nawaz against the Pakistan Army was akin to that of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Modi had repeatedly stated that he liked Nawaz Sharif but he spoke against the Army chief. But Nawaz Sharif remained silent thereon. The audience, mostly boisterous members of the Tiger Force, appreciated the speech of the Prime Minister by chanting slogans and clapping.

Calling Nawaz a jackal [coward] who had left the country with his tail between his legs, the premier condemned the language Nawaz had used against the Army chief and the ISI DG. “These are the people who can sell the country to save their ill-gotten wealth as wealth is their God.”

“What they did to this country was done by Mir Jaffar and Mir Sadiq who had sold and enslaved their nations for their personal interests. This is not an attack on Gen Bajwa but the Pakistan Army. Today, Indian newspapers have showered praise on Nawaz that he is a great democrat who has asked the army to focus on its own job,” he said. He said Nawaz had become the minister by polishing the boots of Gen Zia.

Prime Minister Imran Khan said Indians knew it was Gen Zia who had spoonfed Nawaz and now he (Nawaz) was trying to create chaos in the army and the judiciary by naming the judge. “The game he (Nawaz) is playing, I know it all. I have the intelligence what game he is trying to play. Listen to me carefully Nawaz Sharif from now on I will try my best to bring you back and put you in an ordinary jail not the VIP one. You return and then see how we keep you,” he asserted.

He said Nawaz Sharif became the minister by favouring Lt-Gen Ghulam Jilani Khan and the Chief Minister by polishing the boots of the Ziaul Haq.

The Prime Minister said Nawaz Sharif had received crores of rupees from the Mehran Bank at the behest of former ISI chief Gen Asad Durrani to contest the elections. He said there was a report of the ISI DG in the Supreme Court but unfortunately the courts of our country had always helped Nawaz Sharif. He said Nawaz Sharif was the person who sent PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari to jail twice.

He said that Asif Ali Zardari had filed a case against Nawaz Sharif in Hudaibiya Paper Mills. Citing a book by a foreign author, Prime Minister Imran Khan said that the author had written that Nawaz Sharif was afraid of his army and was inviting American troops to come to the country.

The Prime Minister said: “What Asif Ali Zardari and Nawaz Sharif have done is what Mir Sadiq and Mir Jaffer did to their people.”

He wondered Indians didn’t know that Ziaul Haq had raised Nawaz Sharif and Nawaz Sharif had attacked the Supreme Court with sticks. He said it was Nawaz Sharif who had called Justice Malik Qayyum and asked him to sentence Benazir Bhutto to five years instead of three. He said: “Look at the injustice that the rest of the judges were bought by giving brief cases”.

The Prime Minister said that Nawaz Sharif had got all cases against him closed by appointing corrupt Qamar Zaman as the chairman of National Accountability Bureau (NAB).

He said Nawaz was only with the judiciary as long as it favoured him. When the Hudaibiya Paper Mills case was closed, he praised the judiciary but when a five-member bench convicted him, he started defaming the judiciary by saying mujhay kyun nikala (Why was I ousted?). Was Panama case against Nawaz was instituted by Gen Bajwa?, he asked. He said it made no difference to him who the army chief was, adding the government had the support of Gen Bajwa and the army in every condition.

He said that Shahbaz Sharif was found involved in a corruption of Rs23 billion and he would not get a production order till he responded his case in the court.

In his message to the NAB and judiciary, he said that the people were fed up and waiting for justice. “We are ready to give the judiciary the logistical support it needs from the government, just decide the cases as soon as possible. He also urged the NAB to take the cases to a logical conclusion.

From now on, the Prime Minister said an entirely different Imran Khan would be out there, no `thief and docoit’ would get a production order and he would use subordinate institutions to bring the looters to task.

Imran Khan without naming PML-N vice-president Maryam Nawaz and PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said that two children had addressed the PDM meeting and he would not talk about it.

“She has become a grandmother but she is like a child to me. These children have not done a halal work for an hour in their entire lives. They have reached here on the illicit earnings of their fathers,” he maintained and added commenting on these two was just a waste of time. He also declared the PDM leaders as the `12th player’ in the team.

On the seething wheat crisis, he said that climate change and rains at inappropriate times had resulted in wheat production decline. He said when there was a shortage of wheat, its price went up and ‘we found out late that wheat production was reduced because the existing system for raising awareness about wheat production was bad’.

He, however, made it clear that whatever the deficit of wheat was, it was met through imports. He explained that hoarding had started during this period which was the biggest curse.

He said: “I need Tiger Force for an effective strategy against hoarders. Tiger Force volunteers will not intervene on their own, but will take a picture on their mobile phones and upload it on the government's grievance portal. The administration should take action. This approach will enable Tiger Force volunteers to help the administration.”

Imran Khan said that on behalf of the nation he thanked the volunteers for all the positive work they had done since the launch on March 28. He also welcomed the Tiger Force and appreciated the spirit.

Speaking on the sugar crisis, Imran Khan said that for the first time in a detailed inquiry, the whole thing came to light so the plans they were coming up with would not be expensive in the future.