‘No personal feud with two families’

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan Thursday said he had no personal enmity with the two families (Zardari and Sharifs), rather he used to be friends with them.

“But if I shake hands with the Leader of the Opposition Shehbaz Sharif, it will mean that corruption has been accepted [as a norm],” he added. He was addressing the Aiwan-e-Aizaz ceremony at the Pakistan Academy of Literatures here. The premier said that when the golden age of the Muslims began, intellectuals like Al-Beruni and Ibn Battuta had a great place and wherever they went in the world, they were highly esteemed.

The prime minister noted, “We are facing two kinds of challenges, one of which is that we have accepted corruption as a norm.

“I have no personal enmity with the two families, rather there used to be friendship with them. Everyone asks me why I do not shake hands with the opposition leader? “There are cases of billions of rupees registered against him. And if I shake hands with him, then I give a message to society that I have approved of corruption,” clarified the PM.

“There is no question in England that an MP, who is accused of corruption worth billions of rupees, is called by an anchor or he delivers a two-hour speech in the assembly. “Their [moral] standards are different from ours. And that is why, I have created the Rehmat-ul-Alameen Authority [to establish high moral standard in our society],” he added.

Premier Imran said that when a civilisation develops, intellectuals become its role models as they guide the nation and set their direction right. And when scholars go astray, civilisations decline, he added.

He said that intellectuals protect the ideology of the nation, the impact of Allama Iqbal on Muslims all over the world was unparalleled, and there is a great need for presence of intellectuals in today’s Pakistan, adding that “people in our country do not know the history of Islam, people remember wars but people do not know that such a great revolution in the history of the world did not take place because of wars; there is no example of such a revolution,” he added.

During the 10 years from 622 to 632 AH in the times of the Holy Prophet (PBUH), he explained that only 1,400 people had died in wars in which 600 Muslims were martyred and they had spread over Indian, Atlantic, and Pacific Oceans; so Islam did not come by sword but it was an intellectual revolution, the characters of the people had changed.

He said it is very important to educate our young generations about the intellectual revolution of Islam, because now they are facing the onslaught of media and social media, never before in human history youth and children had access to mostly informative and positive material. But at the same time, they are exposed to material that children have never encountered in human history.

“If we have to keep the youth on the right path, then now the responsibility of the intellectuals as well as the film and TV producers becomes more crucial; we cannot shut down the media because the social media is a reality.

“From time to time, I receive complaints that a video has been uploaded to YouTube or TikTok. If we ask the PTA to block it, some content is uploaded the next day. Teach your children how to deal with such material,” he advised people.

He said that the biggest crisis for the country people right now is that our morality has suffered badly. He said the foundation of revolution, brought about by the Holy Prophet (PBUH), was morality that the good be appreciated and bad be condemned. “When a nation stops differentiating between the good and bad and accepts the evil, then it is eliminated,” he added.

PM Imran said that the purpose of creating Rehmatul-lil-Alameen Authority was that we could give role models to children and the role model of children was the one who was the greatest leader in the history of the world. We should tell children that who is the greatest leader in the world and what qualities did he have that made him stand in front of the superpowers and lead the world.

He said that if we want to make our society better, then we should give our children an alternative message by making programmes on the life of the Holy Prophet (PBUH). He said that we need an intellectual revolution for this society; we need ethics. It is a matter of shame for us that the number of sexual crimes is on the rise in Pakistan. Nowadays, there are cases of child abuse and rape of women, but there is no reaction, which is due to the fact that it is happening in very large numbers.

PM Imran noted that Indian films had changed a lot in 40 years and its effects are being felt on their family system. Delhi is called the rape capital and if we adopt the same culture, it will have an impact.

So, it is the job of intellectuals to guide the community and tell them about alternative lifestyles. He said that the government would fully support and assist intellectuals and writers. He hoped that the intellectuals would lead our society, especially the youth in the right direction.