LAHORE: PTI Chairman Imran Khan has appealed to the lawyers community to build pressure to ensure rule of law in the country, asserting there are no “holy cows”.

“Former army chief Gen retired Qamar Javed Bajwa gave NRO to the corrupt family members of the Sharifs and Zardaris. He kept by-passing me when I was the PM and dictated NAB whom to arrest. I was sitting helpless in the office of the prime minister,” he said while addressing lawyers through a video-link besides talking to media at his Zaman Park residence on Friday.

He said the NAB used to tell him that all cases against the looters and plunderers were mature but they were not being given permission to proceed further.

The PTI chief claimed it was Gen Bajwa who was not giving ‘permission’ to the NAB.

Mr Khan said while he was in the PM office, he continued saying he would commit treason if he gave any relief to the looters of the national wealth. However, he regretted, “these looters have now been given NRO”.

In the absence of rule of law, he said, the talent was le­a­ving the country and cla­imed some 750,000 people had gone abroad to settle there.

During his tenure, Mr Khan said, the country’s economy was growing at six per cent that was now posting a negative growth.

The ex-premier said early election was the only solution to rectify all issues faced by the country. “As soon as political stability returns, we will work to strengthen economy,” he added.

Published in Dawn, December 17th, 2022