Conscience of MPs being bought at Sindh House: PM Imran Khan

MINGORA: Prime Minister Imran Khan said on Wednesday that Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto and Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari had brought huge money of Sindh to the Sindh House in Islamabad where they were busy buying the conscience of the legislators.

He said that Rs200 million was being offered to buy the conscience [of a lawmaker] and posed a question to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) if it was permissible in democracy.

Prime Minister Imran Khan said this while addressing a rally in Swat and said that he would not bow to any pressure and make Pakistan an independent country.

Imran came down hard on PMLN chief Shehbaz Sharif, saying, “Maqsood Chawkidar was astonished to see billions of rupees in his accounts.”

“By wearing Western dresses and speaking English, Shehbaz Sharif has tried to impress foreign emissaries,” he said, adding his sons and relatives are enjoying a luxurious life in London. "People's conscience is being sold out. It is the duty of people now to stand up against evil," the prime minister said.

The PM lashed out at Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) and JUIF chief Maulana Fazlur Rahman for accusing him of being part of the "Jewish" lobby. "But the person who was accused of being part of the Jewish lobby succeeded in getting a resolution passed against Islamophobia in the United Nations," he added.

"I, along with Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and our ambassador Munir Akram had been trying to get a resolution against Islamophobia passed in the United Nations for the last three year, and our efforts finally bore fruit when the UN accepted to mark March 15 as a day against Islamophobia," the prime minister added.

“Gone are the days when our leaders used to succumb to the pressure and couldn't utter a single word in front of the world leaders,” he told a public rally at Grassy Ground in Mingora. The ECP a day earlier had advised the prime minister against visiting Swat and addressing a rally in connection with the local government elections scheduled for March 31 but the premier reached the venue and addressed the jubilant crowd.

The prime minister said that weak leaders like Nawaz Sharif couldn’t represent the country in the comity of nations. “They can’t talk as they have accumulated looted money in their offshore bank accounts,” he said, adding he had no such fears and he was representing the true sentiments of the nation.

He took a jibe at former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, saying when he was holding a piece of paper to speak with the then US president Barack Obama, he should have at least held two pieces of paper that mentioned Islamophobia and Kashmir.

“But they are slaves, who consider money as their god and worship it, their legs trembled before the American president,” the prime minister said in his apparent reference to Nawaz Sharif.

Imran Khan said these corrupt leaders had made up their minds to wind up the National Accountability Bureau after coming into power. “They will take every possible step to continue with the status quo in the country,” Imran went on to claim.

In a reference to Nawaz Sharif, Asif Ali Zardari and Maulana Fazlur Rahman, the prime minister said the three ‘rats’ had joined hands against his government out of fear.

“They know that the era of loot and plunder is over and they all will land in jails if this government completes its tenure,” he said and alleged that the MNAs were being offered millions of rupees to support the no-trust motion.

Imran Khan urged the people to reach Islamabad on March 27 to join the PTI rally to tell the world that Pakistanis "stand with the truth and are against the falsehood and corruption."

He explained that after the 9/11 attacks in the United States, Western nations had built a narrative that pushed people to consider Islam to be synonymous with terrorism. "Terrorism has no religion, and despite Islam having no links with terrorism, a perception was created that terrorism was being spread across the world due to Islam," the prime minister said.

In a meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) three years back, Imran Khan said, he had raised the issue of Islamophobia, and after that, he raised it again at the UN.

"Before that, no Pakistani leader had ever raised the issue at the UN. Earlier, Pakistanis would come out on the streets and vandalizsd their own property whenever Islam was insulted in Western countries. At that time, I told them, don't do this, I will raise this issue internationally," he recalled.

The prime minister said he had received felicitation from across the Muslim world after the UN passed the resolution to mark March 15 as the "International Day to Combat Islamophobia." "I want to ask you, Fazlur Rahman, that in the last 30 years, you were part of every government. Did you ever persuade any Western leader to speak against Islamophobia? Did you ever speak to them?"

The prime minister lashed out at Fazlur Rahman for taking out rallies against him and telling his madrassah students that the premier was part of the "Jewish" lobby. The prime minister enumerated the achievements of his government. “We have put the economy of the country on the right track despite coronavirus pandemic and other unfavourable conditions,” he added.

Mumtaz Alvi from Islamabad adds: Earlier, Prime Minister Imran Khan said the PTI had always represented public sentiments due to which it emerged victorious at all fronts.

He expressed these views while talking to the MNAs, who called on him here. Prime Minister expressed the belief that the government, with overwhelming public support, would also succeed on the current political front.

The premier advised the parliamentarians to intensify their public contacts and mobilise party workers in their respective constituencies. During the meeting, progress on development projects in their respective constituencies and political situation also came under discussion.

Those, who called on the Prime Minister included Makhdoom Zain Hussain Qureshi, Muhammad Ibrahim Khan, Tahir Iqbal, Aurangzeb Khan, Riaz Fatiyana, Sardar Nasrullah Dareeshak, Najeeb Haroon, Sardar Muhammad Khan Legahari, Asma Qadeer, and Jawaria Zafar.

MNA from Sindh Saima Nadeem, Sindh MPA Rabia Azfar, SindH PTI Secretary General Mubeen Jatoi and Arslan Ghumman also met the prime minister. The parliamentarians congratulated the prime minister on UN resolution regarding the International Day to Combat Islamophobia.