ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday called former PM and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan the “biggest fraudster and liar” in the nation’s history.
“I can swear to God that he (Imran) is a fraudster, who lies day and night. He had isolated the nation and played with it. He has tried to create rifts in important institutions of Pakistan,” Sharif said at a presser in Islamabad.
Flanked by cabinet colleagues, the Pak PM said he wanted to present Imran’s “true face” in front of the nation. Sharif began his presser narrating incidents around the no-confidence motion against Imran as PM this April.
“Let’s go back to April 3 when the then deputy speaker of the National Assembly allowed former information minister (Fawad Chaudhry) to speak before voting. He (Chaudhry) read out a statement which mentioned a conspiracy had been hatched against the PTI government and termed it a ‘foreign conspiracy’.”
“On this, the deputy speaker refused to allow voting,” Sharif recalled, adding Imran appeared on TV soon after to announce the National Assembly’s dissolution.
Surprisingly, Sharif added, the dissolution was cleared by the Pakistan president within 20 minutes.
“This was the basis of the conspiracy that Imran has been playing along with for the last five months and wasting the nation’s time. On the floor of the House, I said that if God forbid this conspiracy was proved against me or the coalition government, the nation has the right to hang me,” the PM said.
On recent audio leaks featuring a voice purportedly that of Imran, Sharif said the recordings had revealed his predecessor’s truth.
The PM said a “cipher” — which Imran claims contains details of the foreign conspiracy to oust him from power – couldn’t be decoded by the government. “If it could be, cables from all embassies can be leaked or stolen,” he argued.
Sharif reiterated that the PM’s copy of the “cipher” — also referred to as the master copy — was missing. “Imran himself doesn’t know where it is. But his audio leaks have proved there were four people behind the so-called conspiracy. What other evidence do you need?” Sharif asked.
Sharif vowed to probe the leaks. “An investigation has already begun. We will tell the nation the findings with complete transparency.”
“I can swear to God that he (Imran) is a fraudster, who lies day and night. He had isolated the nation and played with it. He has tried to create rifts in important institutions of Pakistan,” Sharif said at a presser in Islamabad.
Flanked by cabinet colleagues, the Pak PM said he wanted to present Imran’s “true face” in front of the nation. Sharif began his presser narrating incidents around the no-confidence motion against Imran as PM this April.
“Let’s go back to April 3 when the then deputy speaker of the National Assembly allowed former information minister (Fawad Chaudhry) to speak before voting. He (Chaudhry) read out a statement which mentioned a conspiracy had been hatched against the PTI government and termed it a ‘foreign conspiracy’.”
“On this, the deputy speaker refused to allow voting,” Sharif recalled, adding Imran appeared on TV soon after to announce the National Assembly’s dissolution.
Surprisingly, Sharif added, the dissolution was cleared by the Pakistan president within 20 minutes.
“This was the basis of the conspiracy that Imran has been playing along with for the last five months and wasting the nation’s time. On the floor of the House, I said that if God forbid this conspiracy was proved against me or the coalition government, the nation has the right to hang me,” the PM said.
On recent audio leaks featuring a voice purportedly that of Imran, Sharif said the recordings had revealed his predecessor’s truth.
The PM said a “cipher” — which Imran claims contains details of the foreign conspiracy to oust him from power – couldn’t be decoded by the government. “If it could be, cables from all embassies can be leaked or stolen,” he argued.
Sharif reiterated that the PM’s copy of the “cipher” — also referred to as the master copy — was missing. “Imran himself doesn’t know where it is. But his audio leaks have proved there were four people behind the so-called conspiracy. What other evidence do you need?” Sharif asked.
Sharif vowed to probe the leaks. “An investigation has already begun. We will tell the nation the findings with complete transparency.”
