LAHORE: Former member of the Punjab Assembly Mian Jalil Sharaqpuri has urged Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan to leave the country as he is not safe here.

“You are not safe here. If something happens to you the country will break up,” he begged at a press conference in Sharaqpur on Sunday.

“No institution can shield you anymore. The nation has high hopes since you are alive. All religious parties trust you,” says Sharaqpuri who has religious following in the area.

He was elected MPA in the last general election on a PML-N ticket but soon he created a `rebel’ camp in the party and lent support to former CM Usman Buzdar. After the dissolution of the Punjab Assembly, he formally joined the PTI.

Answering a question, Sharaqpuri said he did not see general election in next two years and in such a situation what the Supreme Court could do?

Sharaqpuri went on to say that the people of the country were forced to live in a severe economic crisis. “People are longing for bread and butter,” he lamented.

“Those who have destroyed the national economy were making the institutions of the state controversial. They wanted to destroy Pakistan like Iraq and Libya,” he said, warning the PDM to refrain from standing against anybody from the institutions.

Speaking about the cases against Mr Khan, Sharaqpuri said they were bogus. “The PTI leader is fighting against violators of the constitution”

Published in Dawn, April 17th, 2023