ISLAMABAD / SIALKOT / RAWALPINDI: The Pakis­tan Democratic Movement (PDM) ministers on Sunday lashed out at former prime minister Imran Khan for his campaign against the government and the state institutions, saying the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) chief’s attempts to stay “politically relevant” through such tactics would not yield results.

Addressing a Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) convention in Sialkot, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said that Imran Khan was raising “hue and cry to come to power again” but it would “never happen”. He said now “every institution would serve the nation within the constitutional parameters”. Mr Asif said the PTI government had not only “destroyed the national economy [during its tenure] but also the upcoming generations by feeding them negative narratives”, APP reported.

The minister said the PTI chairman was asking for snap elections so that he could “inflict more miseries on the people of Pakistan”. He said the entire country was “witness to the fact that the decision to bring Imran Khan to power in 2018 was a wrong decision”.

The PML-N leader said Imran Khan’s lust for “power and wealth had no limits”. “This person can do anything in his lust for wealth and power,” he claimed. He added that those who call Imran Khan “honest should know that he was not an honest person” at all. “He is the biggest thief, and it had been proven now,” he added.

The defence minister claimed the “real reason” Imran Khan was disgruntled was the issue of the appointment of the new army chief. “Imran Khan wanted to bring the army chief of his desire,” he added.

‘Will fail again’

In a statement, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari said the efforts by the PTI chairman to turn “[state] institutions into his tiger force to do his unconstitutional bidding failed before and will fail again”.

“I heard ghari chor [watch thief] did a press conference. Did he dissolve KP & Punjab assemblies? Of course not. His efforts to turn institutions into his tiger force to do his unconstitutional bidding failed before and will fail again,” he tweeted.

In a similar statement, PPP leader Sherry Rehman said the PTI had run out of options and the statements issued by Mr Khan regarding the dissolution of provincial assemblies are an attempt to “stay politically relevant”.

In a conversation with DawnNews’ Nadir Gurmani, she claimed that the PTI “is stuck in a blind alley” and it is proving difficult for it to find a way out.

Marriyum’s address

In an address to PML-N workers in Rawalpindi, Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb termed the PTI chairman ‘a political terrorist’. She said he was a “symbol of the country’s degradation”, APP reported.

The minister said all the allegations levelled by the ‘Toshakhana thief’ against the PML-N leadership proved wrong.

She said it was “ironic that a person, who did not start a single development project when in power, was blaming those who brought investments worth billions of rupees to the country”.

In a reference to the sit-in by Mr Khan during the tenure of the PML-N government, the information minister said, “At that time, a conspirator, incompetent, inefficient and ‘Toshakhana thief’ was waiting for the finger of the umpire and holding sit-ins.”

She alleged that Imran Khan “embezzled” the BRT Peshawar funds and “abused the chief election commissioner” when the CEC ruled against him on merit.

In an allusion to PTI’s tirades against the military, she said Imran Khan used to offer “extension to the army chief” behind closed doors but “campaigned against the [army] martyrs” in public.

Published in Dawn, December 12th, 2022