Early elections only pathway to political stability, economic prosperity: Imran
Former prime minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan on Thursday exhorted the ‘real stakeholders’ of the country and the ‘institutions’ to immediately hold fresh, transparent elections in the country to bring political stability and with it economic prosperity.
He said this while addressing a large crowd gathered by the PTI outside the Governor House in Lahore, inside which, Imran said, Punjab Governor Balighur Rehman was plotting to issue a decree de-notifying Prime Minister Chaudhry Parvez Elahi and effectively stopping him from sending an advice to the governor to dissolve the provincial assembly.
“They are creating a drama in Punjab and threatening to impose governor rule in the province,” he said.
With Imran having given the date of December 23 to dissolve the provincial assemblies of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the PTI chief asserted that it was their “legal right” to dissolve the provincial government.
“What do they fear?” he asked of the opposition.
Earlier, Imran again targeted his political opponents, accusing them of looting the country for years and for amending the laws to whitewash all of their alleged corruption.
Imran said that his opponents fear that should he return early, he would put them all behind bars again.
“This is why they are scared of early elections, because they know the NAB amendment they have made to dismiss their cases would be abolished, and they would be apprehended again,” he said.
He said that there is only one way to get out of the current crisis, which is to hold early elections.
The former prime minister further said that I just ask the institutions, the institutions which actually have a stake in the country, you must conduct early election.
“Are you even concerned about the future of the country? The sooner you hold elections, the quicker we can try and get the country out of its current quagmire.”
“We have to earn the trust of international financial institutions again to get out Pakistan from economic instability,” he concluded.
Imran also targeted former chief of army staff General (retired) Qamar Javed Bajwa for criticism without naming him, stating that one man had decided to eliminate the party and remove him from its helm. He added that that one man then decided to have Imran assassinated.
Referring to some of his alleged videos and audio clips doing the rounds on social media which showed a very compromising side to him, Imran termed them as a means to blackmail him and pressure him to back off.
