LANDI KOTAL: Prime Minister Imran Khan has said he will facilitate the protest sit-in being planned in Islamabad by the opposition, as he is not afraid of the threat hurled by Pakistan Peoples Party leader Asif Ali Zardari to topple the government.

“I invite you to come to Islamabad and I will also arrange a container for you, but I challenge you that you will not be able to spend even a week on the container,” the prime minister declared while addressing a public gathering at the Jamrud sports complex in Khyber district on Friday. He said that Asif Zardari would not be able to escape accountability and would therefore find himself in jail.

Challenging the former president and the PPP chairman, Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, to stage a sit-in in Islamabad, he claimed his government would not succumb to such pressure tactics that he said were aimed at securing another National Reconciliation Order-like relief.

• Says ex-president won’t be able to spend even a week on container in Islamabad • Insists peace can’t return to Afghanistan without an impartial interim set-up

Ridiculing Maulana Fazlur Rehman for his claim of arranging a ‘million march’ on Islamabad, the prime minister said the Maulana was like a child who lost his wicket on the first ball after a daylong fielding and then refused to accept the result.

“No matter how much the Maulana and Zardari strive for dislodging our government, they will not succeed as they had already completed their terms and they will not get another chance,” he said amid sloganeering by a cheering crowd of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf workers, who had come to the venue from tribal districts and other parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Mr Khan criticised the past governments of the PPP and the PML-N for their ‘flawed’ economic policies which he said confronted the PTI-led coalition with grave economic crises. He accused both Mr Zardari and former premier Nawaz Sharif of collectively sending Rs200 billion abroad and said the nation would spare the leaders only when they would bring back the looted money.

He said his government was trying to curtail its expenditures by taking austerity and corrective measures in a bid to steer the country out of the present fiscal crises. “We have restored the confidence for foreign investment and hopefully we will be out of the current economic crisis in the coming few months,” he told the cheering crowd.

About his demand for elections in Afghanistan under an interim government, PM Khan insisted that he gave the suggestion ‘in good faith’ to which the present Afghan government reacted very sharply.

“I had no intention of meddling in the internal affairs of Afghanistan but I still believe that peace could be restored in the neighbouring country only when an impartial interim government is given mandate for holding of free and fair elections,” he explained.

Mr Khan said he considered Afghans his brothers and truly wanted and prayed for a peaceful and prosperous neighbouring country. “Decades of war have destroyed Afghanistan and I pray to Almighty Allah to restore peace to that country,” he added.

He said the then opposition in Pakistan had refused to accept the results of 1977 general elections and subsequently a long martial law was imposed in the country. Similarly, he said, he believed that elections under an interim set-up would ensure restoration of peace in Afghanistan. “I am just giving you brotherly advice as we are your well-wishers and want your well-being. If there is peace in Afghanistan, it will also benefit us and it will help in bringing prosperity alongside creation of more job opportunities on both sides,” he added.

About bilateral trade, PM Khan said he had given instructions to the security forces to keep the Torkham border open round the clock along with provision of all modern facilities for speedy clearance of goods.

He said the government would open an economic corridor between Khyber and Kabul to enhance economic opportunities for the two sides and provision of jobs to local tribesmen.

Jabbar, Bara dams

Mr Khan announced the construction of Jabbar dam in Jamrud, Bara dam in Bara and a bypass road in Bara. He said the construction of Jabba and Bara dams would irrigate thousands of hectors of agricultural land along with provision of clean drinking water.

He said he had advised the chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to ensure provision of better health and education facilities for people in all the merged tribal districts along with the construction of sports grounds for them.

Responding to local demand for gas connections and curtailing electricity load-shedding hours, the prime minister said he could not make a promise in this regard but would ‘try his best’ to resolve these issues.

He also announced restoration of 3G and 4G internet service in some areas as it was the “demand of the local educated youth that his party represents”.

Mr Khan once again declared that khasadar and levies would be merged into police force and added that more job opportunities would be created for local educated youth along with giving them easy and interest-free loans for starting of their own businesses.

Published in Dawn, April 6th, 2019