ISLAMABAD: PTI chairman Imran Khan on Sunday said the present government was taking the country to the verge of economic collapse and feared that if his party again came to power, it would be compelled to make compromise on the future and security of the country.

He said the present coalition government led by the PML-N had no plan to rid the country of economic crisis. “In these circumstances, I fear that those who will bail us out will get those things done by us that will destroy future and security of the country,” the former prime minister said in an interview with Dr Moeed Pirzada on TV channel 92News.

He said the present rulers had not come to power to improve the crippling economy and reduce inflation but to close down their corruption cases. “Almost all people are well aware about where the country is standing, but they [present rulers] have no planning how to run the country in the current situation,” he added.

“If you have no capability to run the country, then why did you remove the PTI government. In our period, economy was taking off, but they [present rulers] have destabilised the government.”

Imran Khan said the current rulers tried to abolish the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA). “An accused cannot become a judge,” he said, referring to corruption cases being faced by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and others ruling the country.

“Now they will destroy all institutions of the country, except judiciary, to get NRO (concessional National Reconciliation Ordinance given by former president Gen Pervez Musharraf to two former prime ministers Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto).”

About the new budget, he said: “This budget seems to be not for a period of a year or so, but for one or two months. It means they [rulers] are making plans to get their cases closed down, and by appointing their like-minded officers on top positions, they will try to rig the next elections,” he claimed. The former premier said his party was going to the Supreme Court to challenge the abolition of laws relating to NAB, electronic voting machines and overseas Pakistanis’ right to vote.

About the PTI’s future plan of another long march, Mr Khan said: “First we will get permission from the SC and then stage the long march again. Will all institutions, which claimed to be democratic, give us a basic right of protest?” he asked.

Published in Dawn, June 13th, 2022