Imran declares ex-president Zardari ‘next target’ after defeating no-trust motion

Prime Minister Imran Khan on Wednesday declared Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari his “next target” after thwarting the opposition’s no-confidence motion.

Addressing Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) workers at the Governor House in Karachi, Imran termed the no-confidence motion against his government the “political death” of the opposition.

“I was telling my team. They have done what I was praying for,” Imran added. The premier said that he was waiting for the “gang of robbers” as they were claiming after “every two months” that the government would be leaving.

The premier also accused the former president of using the "police and thugs to get people killed," engaging in theft and corruption and laundering money abroad. "Asif Zardari, your time is near," he warned the PPP leader, Dawn reported.

Imran also said that Zardari had funds earmarked to force the ruling Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) members to switch loyalties. "One of my MNAs told me he was offered Rs200 million," he claimed.

Imran said that people of Sindh want freedom from Zardari as this mafia has been looting the Sindh from last 14 years. It is time for independence of Sindh residents, he added,

"Whenever the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) summons him in graft cases, he gets a backache,” he said and further asked the PPP leader to ensure that his son and PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto learns to speak Urdu before preparing him to lead the country.

Imran dubs Shahbaz ‘boot polisher’

Turning his guns on other opposition leaders, the prime minister called Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shahbaz Sharif a "boot polisher," saying he came up with different excuses every other time in courts to get hearings extended.

"Your time has come as well. You know that after the next three months you will be behind the bars," the premier said.

He alleged that Shahbaz had laundered billions of rupees to his son living abroad, adding: "I will further reduce electricity prices by retrieving money that Shahbaz's son and son-in-law looted from the national exchequer."

The prime minister said he deemed calling Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Fazlur Rehman ‘Maulana’ a ‘sin.' "I will better call him ‘Fazlu’,” he insisted.

Imran said he had been praying to Allah (the Almighty) for the no-confidence motion against him. "Now when time of their political demise has arrived, they have brought the motion against me in the National Assembly,” he claimed.

He was of the view that the part of Pakistan that needed the ‘change’ the most was Sindh. "I will soon set out on a tour to different parts of interior Sindh,” he informed.

Agencies