Country’s defenders involved in conspiracy: Imran Khan

Former PTI Prime Minister and chairman Imran Khan on Saturday asked the “neutrals” why they did not defend the country against the “conspiracy” aimed at ousting its government and reaffirmed that fair and transparent elections were the “only way out” of the crises confronting the country.

Addressing a large gathering in Dir, he said, “We ask the neutrals… when your work is defending the country and it was discovered that this cipher had come and [US Assistant Secretary of State for Central and South Asia] Donald Lu told our ambassador to oust Imran Khan … when the National Security Committee (NSC) said interference happened and issued a demarche to the US, Was it not the job of those whose job it is to defend the country in order to put an end to this conspiracy, not to be neutral?”

Imran said that a regime change supported by the United States was the reason his government was ousted. He called for Lu’s dismissal, accusing him of telling Pakistan’s former ambassador to the US, Asad Majeed, that not removing the PTI government through a vote of non-confidence would have “implications” for Pakistan.

During his address today, the PTI chairman also criticized current Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and asked him why he “got involved” in the plot if he could not govern.

In the opening remarks, Imran appreciated the crowd’s enthusiasm telling them that he had decided to start the rally earlier when he learned that the ground had been filled by 2:30 pm.

He said the United States, Israel, and India were implicated in the plot to oust his government and “impose” Shehbaz on the country not because the current Prime Minister was “fully capable, but because he would obey all the orders of his masters”.

Shehbaz had taken the first order of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) by increasing fuel and electricity prices, he said, alleging that the United States was behind the move.

Imran claimed that the IMF had also pressured his government to increase the price of fuel and electricity byRs10 but instead he reduced them by Rs10 per liter and Rs4 per unit, respectively. “Imran will live and die in Pakistan. He doesn’t give in to anyone.

The PTI government was intent on protecting people from the impact of global inflation, he said.