LAHORE: Main opposition parties Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and Pakistan Peoples Party took exception to Prime Minister Imran Khan’s threat that he would become more dangerous if pushed out of power.

PML-N vice president Maryam Nawaz termed it a ‘hollow threat’ from a defeated person, while PPP secretary general Nayyar Bokhari dubbed it “boastful talk” by a person sitting on a sinking ship.

“Your ultimatum that you will get more dangerous if ousted from power is no more than a hollow threat. The masses will offer thanksgiving prayers the day you leave the power. Neither you are Nawaz Sharif behind whom masses are standing nor you are an underdog and a victim. You are a conspirator and have fallen prey to your nemesis,” she said in one of the tweets she posted on her Twitter account soon after Prime Minister Imran Khan’s televised programme in which he answered viewers’ questions by phone on Sunday.

“Imran Khan Saheb! There is no use of crying and making a scene now. Pack up and move out. The longer you stay in power the more problems will be for you and the masses. You have been badly defeated,” she said in another tweet.

Ms Sharif saw hope for the people in the pessimism of the prime minister and that Mr Khan would soon be part of history to be taught as a lesson of caution to future conspirators.

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“Your dashed hopes... are a new hope for the incompetency & ineptitude stricken people of Pakistan who are waiting for you to spare them the 4 year long ordeal that has cost them their lives.

“Every word that IK has uttered today reeks of failure, dashed hopes & no faith in his or PTI’s future. This was inevitable[,] man. You are history & the history that we will be taught as a lesson of caution to those who rely more on conspiracy & plotting than people’s power.”

Referring to PM’s tirade against Nawaz Sharif and Shehbaz Sharif and accusing the judiciary of issuing status quo orders in certain cases, she said: “The cases you made against [the] Sharifs and PMLN were false & fabricated and were bound to meet the fate they have met. Now that your reality has dawned on the world, do not blame the judiciary. You have only your vindictiveness & revengefulness to blame.”

About the cartels PM Khan blamed for raising prices of their products, she alleged that these were supporters and financiers of the incumbent prime minister.

“IK sounds like a person who is not only defeated but has also accepted his defeat. 4 years into the govt & he is still only whining. The cartels you are complaining about are the mafias on your right & left who have fleeced 220 million (people) & who run your kitchen.”

The PPP secretary general Nayyar Bokhari said the PTI would not even be existing in the country after the 2023 elections, what to talk about the next term.

Talking to Dawn, he said the PTI would face the same fate which every “establishment-backed” party had faced in the country. He said the PTI comprised “daily wagers” who would soon jump out of the sinking ship.

Mr Bokhari said the results of the recently held first phase of the local government elections in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa should be an eye-opener for Mr Khan. He said the claims regarding improvement in the economy and over five per cent growth rate existed only on papers whereas the ground realities were totally different.

The PPP leader also took exception to the prime minister’s tone while talking about judiciary. He said it was true that the courts were facing huge backlog, but again it was the responsibility of the government to facilitate the courts in their functions.

Published in Dawn, January 24th, 2022