ISLAMABAD - After Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Wednesday distanced itself from Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) at the joint sitting of the Parliament, Imran Khan showed a little bit flexibility in its tirade against the present political setup and limited his remakes to those criticising his party in the Parliament.
Imran Khan once again publicly admitted rift within his party. He claimed there was a clear divide in the society as a result of his movement and now two classes were at war with each other. He alleged Nawaz Sharif had tried to defame the army. He reiterated he was not being backed by the army and claimed the Pakistani nation had given verdict in his favour. He said he had decided 14 months ago to come on the rods if he was not given justice.
Khan also announced to give a warm welcome the Chinese president at Constitution Avenue during his upcoming visit to Pakistan. “We will give a warm welcome to the Chinese president and no hurdle will be created in his way,” he said, adding that China was their friend and they could learn from it on how that country rid its people of the poverty in 20 years.
As the talks between the government and PTI were in progress at the residence of PTI the secretary general, Imran Khan did not press much on the demand of the resignation of PM Nawaz Sharif. However, he asked his supporters to join him at the sit-in the next days and continued his tirade against the Sharif family.
The Wednesday night speech of the PTI chief amid a light rain clearly depicted that he was still feeling the heat of the speeches delivered during the last two days at the joint sitting of the Parliament against the protesting parties’ sit-ins at Constitution Avenue.
Khan said he had been demanding the vote audit of four NA constituencies as he knew if these four constituencies were opened the whole election process could be challenged. “And now they are ready on the vote audit of these four constituencies, but now the things have gave gone beyond it,” he added.
The PTI chief said, “There is a clear divide in the society as a result of his movement and two classes are at war against each other; one is the oppressed and the other a small number of tyrant people.” This tyrant class with not more than 500 wants status quo and is sucking blood of the poor, he said. Khan said this class is against the change.
Khan said his party believed in democracy and questioned what undemocratic step they had taken. Reiterating his earlier stance, Imran Khan said had he got justice, he would have not come on the roads. “Tell me what law we have broken,” he asked his workers. “I am enjoying this competition because there is a clear conflict between those who want change and those who are benefiting from this system,” he said.
He continued criticising the Sharif family and said that Nawaz Sharif was facing charges of money laundering. A former ISI DG had given a statement before the Supreme Court that Nawaz had got money from them, but no law could nab him. “Nawaz Sharif had asked former prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani to step down as there were corruption cases against him. He questioned why he was not quitting the PM slot for the same reason of corruption cases against him.
Once again publicly talking about the rifts within his party, he said, “We are seeing who is standing by the PTI ideologically and who wanted to benefit from this tsunami,” he told the crowd. “I am observing my team closely and some have emerged as heroes while others are opportunists,” he further said.
Khan told his supporters that he would see who would bring with him more people here. “The real PTI would emerge in this test,” he said, adding the people in front of him are representatives of the oppressed class. The tyrant class would be defeated by the masses only. If the masses did not challenge Nawaz Sharif, he would continue to rule them by misusing the public money, the PTI chief said.
Khan claimed that bureaucracy and police were working without political influence in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa where PTI was a ruling party. He asked his party workers to show their performance, adding he would not award tickets to opportunists