Those giving NRO to thieves are traitors: Imran

MARDAN/ CHRASADDA/ RAWALPINDI: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan said on Thursday that whoever gives an NRO to thieves like Shehbaz Sharif and Hamza Shehbaz is a traitor, as he lashed out at institutions for allegedly torturing his party’s leaders.

The NRO stands for National Reconciliation Ordinance, a controversial ordinance, issued by military ruler General Pervez Musharraf on Oct 5, 2007, to grant amnesty to politicians, political workers and bureaucrats, who were accused of corruption. It was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court on Dec 16, 2009.

While addressing a public rally here, the former premier said: “All thieves are being released; Shehbaz Sharif and his son have been acquitted. Whoever they are [who are acquitting them], they should be ashamed [of their act]. They are traitors who are betraying their country.”

The PTI chairman’s allegations came after a special court in Lahore acquitted PM Shehbaz and his son, Hamza Shehbaz, in a mega money-laundering case — almost two weeks after the Islamabad High Court (IHC) acquitted PMLN Vice President Maryam Nawaz in the Avenfield Reference.

Khan — since his ouster in April — has been alleging that the coalition government rulers came to power for getting their cases disposed of and looting the country.

In his address on Thursday, Khan called out the people who were having cases registered against him and said that he would “not back down”. The PTI chairman also chided the institutions, blaming them for torturing his chief of staff Shahbaz Gill and party leader Azam Swati. “If you think that you will be respected by torturing people, then you are mistaken,” Khan said while berating the institutions. He asked them to be ashamed of their actions.

Gill was recently released on bail in a sedition case after he was sent behind bars for nearly a month, while Swati was arrested earlier in the day and sent on physical remand for his alleged “controversial tweets”.

In an apparent reference to the institutions, the PTI chairman said that God hasn’t given the luxury to remain “neutral” when it comes to deciding between the right and wrong paths. “Ask your children about Nawaz Sharif and Asif Zardari. These two families have looted the country for the last 30 years,” the PTI chairman said.

Slamming PMLN supremo Nawaz, Imran asked that since he had been seeking bail every now and then as several cases were being lodged against him, should he also leave the country. “Had Imran Khan been a corrupt person like Nawaz Sharif, he would have left the country the first chance he got,” Khan said, adding the PMLN leaders have four “huge palaces in London”.

Khan alleged that Nawaz and company are in politics to misuse their powers and that after coming to power, the PMLN supremo set up 17 factories. “On the contrary, look at my record. I haven’t misused my power even once during my tenure of 3.5 years,” he said.

Also, addressing public meetings in Takhtbahi and Charsadda, Imran Khan alleged that the election commissioner was a biased person, who had planned to cast 10,000-15,000 fake votes to his rival candidates in the by-elections, slated for October 16.

“The Election Commission is only pursuing the PTI’s foreign funding case while similar cases of other political parties have been pending for years,” he alleged. Lawmakers Amir Farzand Khan, Iftikhar Mashwani, Ali Muhammad Khan, Maulana Gul Naseeb Khan, Shujaul Mulk and others also addressed the gathering.

The ex-premier alleged that the US and its cronies had imposed the corrupt rulers on the country, saying that it had become obligatory for the nation to launch a jihad against them to save the homeland and coming generations.

He said that laws of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) were being changed to favour the corrupt. “The leaders of Pakistan Peoples Party and Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz altered the NAB laws and waived off Rs1,100 billion they had accumulated through corrupt practices in the yesteryears,” Imran Khan said, adding the corrupt rulers did not want to strengthen intuitions to make them accountable.

He said the rulers had filled their coffers in foreign countries while the poor were yearning for a two-time meal in Pakistan. He also blamed the incumbent government for the law and order situation in Swat. “We had restored peace. The imported government is responsible for the prevailing situation in Swat,” he added.

The former prime minister also came down hard on leaders of the Awami National Party and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazl and said during their rule, there were bomb blasts and militancy was on its peak in every nook and cranny of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.

He said the JUIF chief Maulana Fazlur Rahman had no concern for Islam but only wanted to reach the corridors of power in Islamabad. He urged the electorate to vote for him and strike the last nail in the coffin of PDM, whose leaders had introduced the politics of corruption and malpractices.

Separately, speaking at Pir Mehar Ali Shah Arid Agriculture University in Rawalpindi, Imran Khan announced on Thursday that he would lead the struggle for real freedom of the country for which he would give a call very soon. He emphasised that for the country’s real freedom, everyone had to struggle, as chains did not fall on their own, they have to be smashed and freedom also had to be snatched.

The PTI chairman alleged that thieves and slaves of America were imposed on the nation through a US conspiracy. “American slaves were imposed on us and these thieves are ending all their corruption cases worth billions daily, while people are drowning in inflation,” he added.

The economy, he said, had been destroyed and the prime minister was begging in America, humiliating the country. Imran said he had been raising his voice against injustice and that was a jihad. He said he was confronting the thieves, but coward and selfish people would not stand against injustice.

The PTI chairman said, “I have accepted challenges from cricket to politics; the biggest obstacle in man’s flight is fear, slaves polish shoes and leaders act freely. Cowardly man can never become a big leader, he becomes Nawaz Sharif, Nawaz Sharif goes abroad in every difficult situation,” he added.

“Jail is a small thing; we are ready to lay down our lives. For the real freedom, everyone has to be ready,” the PTI chairman told the audience. About the appointment of Governor Sindh, Imran Khan said that a criminal had been made the governor. President Dr Arif Alvi recently approved the appointment of MQMP leader Kamran Tessori as the Sindh governor.

Meanwhile, Imran reacted to the arrest of PTI Senator Muhammad Azam Swati and tweeted, “Azam Swati’s custodial torture for a tweet on NRO-2 is yet another shameful act in our history. Can torture & intimidation make people respect any individual or institution? The Holy Quran says that respect and humiliation are solely in Allah’s jurisdiction, which He dispenses according to our deeds”.

“Those who have allowed the biggest criminals not only to evade accountability after stealing billions from the nation but to come to power again are destined to be humiliated,” he wrote on his Twitter account.

PTI Sindh Information Secretary and Member Provincial Assembly Arsalan Taj announced on Thursday that the PTI chairman would visit Karachi on Friday (today) to attend three public events in the city. He said Khan would meet the candidates who were contesting the local government elections on PTI tickets. The event would be held at Dalmia, Gulshan-e-Iqbal.

Taj said that after the meeting with UC candidates, Imran Khan would meet lawyers and address the Karachi Bar Council. He would also talk to the media. In the evening, Khan would address a public gathering in Shah Faisal Colony in connection with the by-polls, to be held this Sunday.