Reaction to Imran’s speech: Opposition terms speech that of ‘defeated man’

ISLAMABAD: The combined opposition on Thursday termed the speech of Prime Minister Imran Khan as that of a 'defeated man', who tells lies to the people to save his power and is targeting Pakistan to save his power.

PML-N President and Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif dubbed Prime Minister Imran Khan as a security risk for the country and said he has targeted Pakistan to save power. Chairman PPP Bilawal Bhutto Zardari termed the speech of Prime Minister Imran Khan as that of a 'defeated man' whose every promise has been a u-turn or betrayal.

In his reaction to Prime Minister Imran Khan's speech, the Opposition Leader in the National Assembly, Shehbaz Sharif, said, "Your corruption and incompetence have brought economic, social and foreign catastrophe to the country."

President PML-N Shehbaz Sharif said Imran Khan Niazi's speeches should be banned; he is trying to destroy the diplomatic relations of the country. "Till today's address, the letter has not been shown to the people and the parliament, only the contents are being revealed. Not showing the letter means no letter. Imran Niazi is telling a new lie as usual,” he said.

He said after the narrative of corruption and state of Madina, Imran has now brought the the conspiracy letter. "The people have rejected him and his every lie," he said. Shehbaz Sharif said the letter mentioned in the two-hour speech in the public meeting and one-hour address to the nation on TV means there was no letter at all. "A diplomatic cable is being presented as a conspiracy," he said.

Chairman Pakistan Peoples Party, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, in his reaction in Geo News Capital Talk of senior journalist Hamid Mir, said "I did not watch the former prime minister's speech as I believe that he is repeating the same things and people of Pakistan have recognized his lies now. They know that this man has not fulfilled one promise in the past three years. Every promise has been a u-turn or betrayal."

Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said that this man has made the country a slave of the IMF and harmed the Kashmir policy. "Imran Khan has sabotaged the CPEC as per an international conspiracy, he did not spare our economy, foreign policy and democracy while the common man is bearing the burden of the destruction that has been going on in the name of change," he said.

He said when defeat that has come through a democratic mean is clear and there is no other way to escape it, such blames are not appropriate. "He should take an honourable exit instead of trying to find a safe exit. He should have resigned in today's speech," he said. "Imran Khan should face us in the voting on Sunday and respect democracy. He should not try to fool the people of Pakistan."

Bilawal Bhutto said for him Imran Khan was now a former prime minister, who made an unsuccessful effort to hold a big gathering in Islamabad as he does not need millions of people, only 172 members. "175 members of the opposition were present in the assembly today and we have proved that he has lost his majority. His government has ended," he said.

The chairman PPP said the party has never compromised on the foreign policy of the country. "Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto made us a nuclear power, Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto gave us missile technology and former President Zardari gave China access to the warm waters through CPEC and also tried to bring the Iran gas pipeline." Be it the Salala incident when we stopped the NATO supply lines or when we condemned the US drone attacks on our visits, every policy has been in the best interest of the country, he said. He said the Pakistani nation is witness as to how the US president has not even called this man in the past three years. "Why would he threaten him?" he questioned. He said this man is scared of phone calls himself and he cancelled a trip to a foreign country over a phone call. "There are countless examples," he said. He said the political, economic and foreign policies of the government have all been unsuccessful and if this man says that he will not admit defeat, it does not mean that he has not been defeated. "He is a defeated man," he declared.

The parliamentary leader of the Pakistan Peoples Party in the Senate, Sherry Rehman, Thursday said it was shocking that Imran had linked his own political survival with a sensitive issue of national security. "All these committees should have met by 8 March or 9 March, and discussed all these issues thoroughly for a clear response from all parties," she said. "After all this is the way it used to be in all governments before and all crises were debated and unpacked with stakeholder input; responses were linked to state-resilience, not personal political survival. And this speech was a clear example of a highly personalized vision of an egocentric mind, one that is delusional to the point of embarrassment," she said.

Senator Sherry Rehman said any threat or risk to the country is immediately responded to, not after the opposition has shown many more than 175 members for the vote of no confidence motion.

Spokesman of PDM Hamdullah said it was an old speech in which nothing was new and it seemed that Imran was still standing on the container. "The speech is based on lies based on allegations," he said. He said Imran Khan was using the letter to save his power and put national security at stake. "The Kashmir sellout, SBP mortgage to IMF and suspension of CPEC is US slavery,” he said. He questioned that voting for India in the UN Security Council and giving NRO to Kulbhushan was slavery of foreign powers. Imran Khan supported Musharraf in the post 9-11 war on terror and also supported the referendum of General (retd) Pervez Musharraf. He said there were two options before Imran Khan, either to face the no-confidence vote on Sunday or resign, there is no other way.

The spokesman of JUIF, Aslam Ghauri, said calling the no-confidence motion a global conspiracy was the biggest joke of the century. "If there was a conspiracy against Imran Khan, was it hatched in Multan, Bani Gala and Pakpattan?" He said Imran Khan did not get worried about global conspiracy while receiving donations from the USA, Israel and India. "He did not get worried when he mortgaged the SBP to the IMF."