ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s former prime minister Imran Khan on Tuesday criticized the government for consulting a “convict in London” over the appointment of the new army chief who was likely to put a list of his own political demands on the table before finalizing a candidate.
Khan, who is also the head of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, issued the statement during a video address to the anti-government protest march of his followers and workers who are gradually moving to the federal capital in a bid to demand fresh elections in the country.
The PTI chief, who was ousted from power in a no-confidence vote in April after losing his parliamentary majority, made similar statements in the past wherein he claimed the government wanted to bring an army chief of its own choice to save its leaders from corruption cases.
More recently, he said that he wanted to see the appointment of the next army chief on merit after Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif visited London to meet his self-exiled elder brother and three-time former premier Nawaz Sharif for political consultations.
The elder Sharif was convicted by an accountability court in Pakistan on a corruption reference before he flew out of the country on bail in November 2019 for medical checkup. The ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party says the charges against him were politically motivated.
“Let me tell you now,” Khan said in his video message to members of the protest rally. “Whoever Nawaz Sharif decides to make the army chief, he will ask him for one thing ... He will ask him to get Imran Khan disqualified, bring [PTI] under pressure and end [corruption] cases against him.”
“He is not worried about anything else,” the PTI chief continued, adding that Sharif was “running away from elections” since he knew that his party was going to lose.
He also criticized the founding PML-N leader for putting the country’s future at stake to promote his own political interest.
Khan blamed the government for economic mismanagement, saying Pakistan was on the verge of default and there was 64.5 percent risk that it would not be able to pay back its loans.
“If we default, the whole world will end our funding,” he warned. “If you think that people will invest in Pakistan from abroad, it will not happen since they will be scared.”
The former prime minister said any further deterioration in economy would hurt the ordinary people since the national currency would begin to lose its value more rapidly.
He said his administration was taking the country to greater economic prosperity by strengthening the export, agricultural and industrial sectors before it was brought down.
“If anyone thinks [this government] can fix the national economy, they should ask how we reached here in the first place,” he continued.
Khan reiterated it was important to call early elections to address the economic and political turmoil in the country.
