Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan on Friday said he had no disagreements with the “neutrals”, questioning why he should get into a quarrel with them.
“Weakening the ‘neutrals’ means strengthening the enemy and only the country will suffer in this fight,” he said while speaking to senior journalists.
Regarding chances of him being arrested, he said if the government wanted to arrest him, they could do so. “I have no fear because I haven’t crossed any red line.”
He said that free and fair elections were the only solution to pull the country out of the crisis, adding that when a pro-people government would be formed only then would the economy flourish. “If I would speak to the neutrals there would be only one stance – free and fair elections.”
The PTI chairman said that nobody was ready to speak to the leaders of the “imported government”, asserting that he would never join hands with the “thieves” even if he has to sit on opposition benches.
“It is better to be in the opposition than to have a dialogue with the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP),” he said.
Imran warned that if by-polls in 20 constituencies of Punjab were rigged, it might harm the country.
Meanwhile, addressing a rally in Khushab, Imran claimed that a “man based in Lahore” was “trying to help the PML-N win by-elections on 20 seats of the Punjab Assembly”, but vowed that the person’s “attempts to rig the polls” would go in vain.
The PTI chairman referred to a mystery man who was allegedly backing the Punjab government bag a majority of the seats in the polls.
“A man is based in Lahore who has a single mission to make these thieves win the elections. I want to tell the Lahore man that whatever you do, it is you who will end up in embarrassment… People will curse you. No matter what you do and how much rigging you do, the by-election results next Sunday will see Hamza lose his position,” Imran said without naming the man in question.
“I just learned today that the man’s wife has been given a top post in the customs [department] which can help her generate a lot of money. But despite this rigging, we will defeat them,” he said.
The reference from the former premier about the man comes in the wake of PTI claims that its workers and employees had been receiving “threatening phone calls” from certain quarters.
Separately, the party also alleged that the Punjab government was trying to influence the polls in its favour by announcing uplift schemes.
Imran said the upcoming by-elections would decide “the future of Pakistan”, and urged people to defeat the incumbent Punjab government in the polls. He called upon youngsters, saying he wanted at least 10 youths to volunteer to “stand guard” at polling stations with an aim to prevent rigging attempts.
Imran also expressed his reservations over the intentions of the coalition government and the “establishment” to conduct free and fair elections.
Sharing a report by a local media agency on his official Twitter handle, the ousted premier said the findings of the Pattan report made it “obvious” why the government and the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) opposed the use of electronic voting machines (EVMs) in the upcoming polls.
In its report, Pattan – a not-for-profit organisation – claims that the “use of EVM may eliminate 130 out of 163 poll rigging means” in the country.
“I am afraid neither the PDM (Pakistan Democratic Movement), who have perfected the art of rigging over the years, want free and fair elections, nor does our establishment,” he added.
