A fugitive in London is maligning state institutions: PM Imran

A day after Nawaz Sharif’s no-holds-barred onslaught against a “parallel state” in Pakistan, Prime Minister Imran Khan took a jibe at his convicted predecessor, saying that “once again a fugitive sitting in London is maligning the state institutions”.

Nawaz Sharif, who has been handed a seven-year jail term on charges of financial corruption, was allowed by the government and court to travel to London for treatment of some undiagnosed ailment late last year. But now he has refused to return and a court has declared him a proclaimed offender.

Speaking at a multiparty opposition confab via video link on Sunday, Sharif said the opposition’s struggle was not against Imran Khan “but against those who had imposed such an incapable person on the country through a rigged election”.

Nawaz Sharif’s speech and the story published in Times of India reflect the same agenda, the premier said while speaking to spokespersons of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Monday.

Sharif’s PML-N has once again promoted the Indian agenda, he said. New Delhi wanted to vilify Pakistan’s state institution ahead of the UN General Assembly session which opened on Sept 15 and will continue until Sept 30, he added.

India, Premier Imran said, wanted to take the global spotlight off its reign of terror in Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK), which has been under lockdown for more than a year now.

Indian media has been spewing venom against Pakistan since Sharif’s rant against the state institutions, he said. An international lobby has been active against Pakistan’s state institutions, he added. “We will not allow anyone to malign our institutions.”

The prime minister also slammed Sunday’s all-party conference, saying that it was an attempt by opposition politicians to malign the state institutions in a bid to cover their financial corruption. “I had predicted much earlier that they all would unite for personal interests,” he added.

The ruling party has decided to give the opposition a befitting response by exposing their real motives.

Premier Imran said that Pakistan owns its territorial integrity and sovereignty to its armed forces. “Countries like Libya, Iraq and Syria have been destroyed because they didn’t have strong militaries,” he added.

Our armed forces have always stepped forward whenever called out in natural disasters, calamities or emergencies, the prime minister further said. “We will not allow anyone to malign our armed forces and our judiciary.”