Imran Khan wants the army chief’s term to be ‘extended’

Web Desk (LTN NEWS): In an interview with a private channel, former Prime Minister Imran Khan said that the new army chief should not be chosen until a new government is in place.

Imran Khan said that the new head of the military should be chosen by the new government. Imran Khan also said that, after changing his mind, he was “now ready to talk with the government about early elections.”

“I’m ready to talk about the election,” the leader of the PTI Imran Khan said.

Imran Khan said that if he had been able to say anything about the contempt of court case, he would have apologized when he went to the Islamabad High Court (IHC).

Imran Khan also said that in the last four months, he has gotten more respect than ever before. However, he said, “I am not rushing to elections for my own personal gain.”

“Elections will lead to political stability,” he said again.

The Head of the PTI said that he was sorry if what he said at his public event was misunderstood and that he was ready to take it back.

“If they had let me talk, I could have said what they wanted to hear,” he said.

Meeting with former US diplomat

Imran Khan Imran Khan also said that he was “not anti-American,” which was a clarification of his position after he met with former US diplomat and CIA analyst Robin Raphael at Banigala. The two talked about things that were important to both of them, mostly in the context of Pakistan-US relations.

“Robin Rafael and I have been friends for a long time. She doesn’t work for the government. Instead, she works for a think tank,” he said about his meeting with the former US diplomat.

Imran Khan said it was important to have good relations with the US, but he warned that it shouldn’t be used for personal gain.

He said, “We shouldn’t be used the way we were during the War on Terror.”

Head of the PTI also said that his party’s relationship with the US was not tense, but that things got tense after Imran Khan went to Russia and Vladimir Putin attacked Ukraine.

Pakistan’s Constitution

Imran Khan said in the interview that he has been in politics for 26 years and that his party has always followed a path that is in line with the Constitution of the country.

Imran Khan made fun of the performance of the coalition government and said that the country would be stuck in a quagmire if the current leaders were to stay in power for a long time.

He said that the flood’s effects on the economy will be seen in the winter. “Tell me… do they have an answer? Exports are going down, loans are going up, and remittances are going down. This means that you have less money to lend.

Imran Khan said, “The economy is shrinking and unemployment is going up.” He also said that Pakistan had never seen inflation as high as 27.3% in August, which was a record high.

Former prime minister hinted that the government will “raise electricity prices even more” because the International Monetary Fund (IMF) told the coalition government to do so.

Reiterating his claim that there was a foreign conspiracy, head of the PTI asked, “I want to ask those who brought these people after removing our government: were they thinking of Pakistan? Everyone knows about these two families’ pasts.”

Read IHC decision to Indict Imran Khan on Sep 22

Head of the PTI said that the Sharif and Zardari families had ruled Pakistan for 32 years through dynastic politics. “It would have been different if they had a good track record and were geniuses, but they were corrupt, so they destroyed the institutions of the country,” he said.

No big dam has been built in 50 years: Imran Khan

Imran Khan said that both the floods in 2010 and the ones that are happening now have caused a lot of damage, especially in Sindh.

“Rice fields haven’t been grown in Sindh because flood water is still there. Floods can be stopped in the long term by building dams, but no big dams have been built in the last 50 years, Imran Khan said.

He also said that Sindh’s biggest problem is the lack of a drainage system.

“In Karachi, homes are built on nullahs,” he said, stressing the need for a good drainage plan to deal with the problem.

He also said that he started the Billion Tree Tsunami Program to help lessen the effects of global warming.

Imran Khan said that the economy was in a fast decline and that fixing it would be the “next challenge.”

Imran Khan also said something about the coalition government’s deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and criticized its performance in light of the country’s rising inflation.

“They agreed to the IMF program and raised the prices of gas and electricity,” Imran Khan said, adding that the value of the rupee is still going down.

“Given where they are going, I’m afraid the government has no solution,” he remarked as he emphasized how stability in the country was only possible through elections.

He also said that the country is already dealing with floods and that it would be terrible if it didn’t pay its debts.

“I already said that no one would be able to handle the economy if political instability continued. I had warned those who possessed power,” the former premier said, adding that he also sent former finance minister Shaukat Tarin to explain the matter to the establishment.

Imran Khan said that he warned that the economy would not be handled by conspiracies and that all credit agencies have downgraded them.

“They could not manage the economy and the stock market plunged,” he said, adding that the government increased the prices of items following IMF’s pressure.

“They had no plan, but to only have their corruption cases pardoned,” he said.

Pakistan needs $30 billion worth of external loans

“Even if we get funds from the World Bank, IMF, and Asian Development Fund we would get $8 billion,” he said, questioning where Pakistan would get the remaining funds from.

‘No political stability, no economic stability

Former prime minister said that Pakistan does not have an easy option, “whichever party comes into power will have to face a mountain of problems.”

Shedding light on PTI’s strategy, Imran Khan said that whenever his party will come back in power their first step will be to ensure political stability. “If there is no political stability there can be no economic stability,” he said, adding that the current path the country is heading towards the situation will soon get out of everyone’s hands.

“All Pakistanis should be worried,” he warned. “The kind of restrictions they are imposing today were witnessed during former president Pervez Musharraf’s tenure. They sought to terrify, suppress and threaten PTI leaders and workers”.

Read Shehbaz Sharif wants to cooperate with Imran “for crisis sake”

“I haven’t seen an election commission so biased,” the PTI chief said, narrating the entire episode of the chief election commissioner’s (CEC) appointment.

Imran Khan accused CEC of “sabotaging the electronic voting machine (EVM) project”, adding that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) made all efforts to defeat PTI in Punjab’s July 17 polls.

Ready to hold talks: Imran Khan

“The coalition parties are scared of losing the next general elections,” he said, adding that only nations progress which takes decisions on merit.

Imran Khan further remarked that the army chief’s appointment should be based on merit. “Neither Asif Ali Zardari nor Nawaz Sharif is qualified for taking this decision on merit,” he elaborated.

Berating all comments of lawyers, and political analysts, he said that no matter what they say the country is facing an “unusual situation.”

“We should now think of how to get the country out of the quagmire,” he said, reiterating that he is ready to hold talks with the incumbent government if they are willing to hold free and fair snap polls.