Former Pakistan PM wants ‘friendly relationship’ with US, not slavery
Imran Khan delivers a speech to his supporters during a rally to celebrate the 75th anniversary of Pakistan's Independence Day in Lahore on Saturday night. AFP
Former prime minister and Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan has said that he is not "anti-American” and wants a "friendly relationship” with the US, instead of becoming their "slave.”
He was speaking at a public rally at the Hockey Stadium Lahore on the eve of Independence Day, wherein he shared his party’s "roadmap for Haqeeqi Azadi” (real freedom) to counter the federal government and push it towards early elections.
Imran said he had enjoyed "good ties” with former US president Donald Trump as he was "respectable” during his visit to the US. "Ask anyone from the Pakistan-American community they will testify that no one before me had gotten the protocol that Trump gave to me,” he claimed.
He said there was no reason to make an enemy out of Washington as Pakistan’s exports to the US were substantial and the Pakistani-American community was one of the influential communities in that country.
The PTI chief also chided the government, especially Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif and Defence Minister Khawaja Asif, for their remarks on the economy and blamed them for the economic meltdown of Pakistan.
Imran claimed that "several conspiracies” were being hatched to disqualify him and to reach a deal to pave way for Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supreme leader Nawaz Sharif, who is in a self-imposed exile in London, to return home and enter active politics once again.
"Imran Khan will never strike any deal,” he said and quipped that he would `welcome’ Sharif when he would return to Pakistan.
He added the "conspirators” wanted to pit his party against the Pakistan army which, as per Imran Khan, would eventually hurt the country.
As part of his plan to rattle the government, the PTI chief announced that he would go to the public to muster up support for his struggle to achieve "Haqeeqi Azadi” that had entered its "decisive stage.”
Imran said that he would begin his mass public drive from Rawalpindi next week followed by rallies in Karachi, Sukkur, Hyderabad, Islamabad, Peshawar, Mardan, Attock, Abbottabad, Multan, Bahawalpur, Sargodha, Jhelum, Gujrat, Faisalabad, Gujranwala, and Quetta.
The PTI chief said Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah helped the nation to "get liberation from the British and Hindus”. Now, Khan said, he wanted to liberate Pakistanis from "mental slavery.” By the next Aug.14, the nation would have won its “actual freedom,” Imran said while sharing his plans for mass mobilisation.
After midnight, the participants recited the national anthem along with the PTI chief, which was followed by fireworks. The gathering was broadcast live across Pakistan, including Islamabad and Karachi, where PTI supporters remained glued to big screens to listen to their leader.
