PM Shehbaz Sharif polishes ‘big boot’ well: Imran Khan

MUZAFFARABAD: Upping the ante, PTI chief and former prime minister Imran Khan Thursday said the ‘handlers’ must understand that he will never come to terms with ‘thieves’.

Throwing a barb at Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif while addressing a rally here, Imran said he especially polished the ‘big boot’ well, a veiled reference to the establishment. Criticising Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja, Imran asked him to step down and warned that he would take all-possible legal steps against him.

He said the recent audio leaks had proved that the CEC had ‘fixed the [electoral] match’ in collaboration with the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz. It was Imran’s first public appearance in the territory after the last year’s election campaign.

“I will leave no stone unturned in sending Raja to jail,” Imran said and warned that his party would take all-possible legal steps against him. He went on to call Sikandar Sultan Raja as the ‘chief electoral fraud.’

Reiterating his movement to attain what he called true independence, Imran urged the Kashmiri youth to join his movement, says a media report. He claimed that the federal government — led by the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) — had cut the budget for the disputed territory.

“I am preparing myself, so when I call you, be prepared for the real freedom movement,” he said. Talking about the return of Federal Finance Minister Ishaq Dar after a five-year exile, Imran claimed that he was one of the key persons involved in helping Nawaz Sharif launder money.

He said Dar cut a deal to return in a new ‘National Reconciliation Ordinance’ (NRO). Imran said if people like Dar could come back after cutting a deal, why were the prisons full of poor people for petty crimes? He added that all jail inmates should be allowed to go home after cutting a deal.

“Allah Almighty also says that people should not take a neutral position. Either you are with the good or with the evil. Prepare yourself and wait for my call,” he repeated. Imran thanked Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif for leaking the audio of his conversation with his then principal secretary Azam Khan.

“I want to thank Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. It was due to the leak that people now believe that the diplomatic cipher allegedly pointing to a conspiracy to bring down my government was real,” he said.