LAHORE: Politicians belonging to the ruling and the opposition parties have strongly condemned Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan’s statement on Sunday that the ‘people’ would welcome a ‘military takeover’ in Pakistan.
The PTI chairman compared the Turkey coup attempt with the situation in Pakistan and said that Pakistanis would distribute sweets if the army takes over the country. “Democracy is threatened by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s monarchy and the people will celebrate and distribute sweets if the army takes over,” he told a public rally in Azad Jammu Kashmir.
Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif tweeted minutes after Imran’s speech that Imran was the 12th man of the politics and was only waiting for an accident to happen so he could play (his role). “Otherwise he (Imran) sits on the sidelines and sulks,” he added.
Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal also termed Imran’s statement as a symbol of his political bankruptcy. He said that the statement was tantamount to inciting the army for a rebellion. Maryam Nawaz, the prime minister’s daughter, also lambasted Imran by calling him one of the biggest political sellouts of recent times.
In a tweet, she said that Imran was caged in a mindset which the people had already broken free from. She ended her statement with “discredited.” Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader Faisal Karim Kundi said that it was an immature statement and the PTI chief should apologise to the nation.
He said that democracy had returned to Pakistan after enormous sacrifices rendered by the democratic forces and his party would resist any move to derail the process.
Pakistan Justice Party (PJP), a lesser-known political party, had reportedly filed an application in Lahore’s Anarkali police station requesting the police to register a case against Imran for his unconstitutional statement under Section 120B (criminal conspiracy) and Section 124A (sedition).
The application said that Imran’s statement called for toppling a democratically-elected government. However, the police had denied receiving such an application, available to the media on a party’s letterhead with hand writing, from the party.
