AMN / WEB DESK
Ahead of a Supreme Court hearing on the date for elections in Pakistan, PTI Chairman Imran Khan on Monday asked the ruling coalition to conduct elections, warning that in case of the government’s failure to call snap polls, the PTI alongside its supporters would take to the streets to protect the Constitution.
Speaking to party workers through video link from his Zaman Park residence in Lahore , Mr Khan said the rulers were afraid of elections, knowing well that “they would be defeated and Imran Khan might revert the NRO and recover Rs1,100 billion looted money stashed abroad”.
“If this government violated the Constitution and the Supreme Court decision, the party workers and supporters as well as each Pakistani should get ready to come out on the roads for peaceful protests across the country,” Mr Khan said in his message to the nation.
He asserted that a country become a ‘Banana Republic’ if its Constitution was violated.
“It is mandatory for every Pakistani to come out on roads to save the Constitution…to protect the fundamental rights of people of Pakistan,” he asserted.
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Mr Khan said a country’s system is strengthened when its institutions, including judiciary, army, bureaucracy and police, become strong through merit.
No thirst for revenge
Mr Khan dispelled the impression that he would take revenge on his rivals after coming to power and asserted, “I will not take revenge but ensure the upholding of rule of law in the country”. He also said the PTI was not doing politics for personal gains but to drive the country out of crises.
A day earlier in his video-link address to the party workers at Zaman Park, Mr Khan said the PTI wanted to bring change through the power of the vote but the opponents were running away from elections. “The PTI’s opponents should be put on ECL before holding elections so that they should not run away from the country,” Mr Khan suggested.