Peshawar (HRNW) Former prime minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan on Friday reacted to the acquittal of Maryam Nawaz and her husband Chaudhry Muhammad Safdar in the Avenfield reference, stating that laws were changed that prevented their conviction in corruption and money laundering case.
“They made two changes to the law,” he began, adding, “the first change is that if any fund comes from outside the country will not be admissible as evidence – if someone has stored their ill-gotten wealth abroad and are bringing it into the country then that is not admissible.”
Imran Khan was addressing a political rally at a second educational institution in a week, this time at the historic Edwardes College in Peshawar.
“The other, all around the world to catch white-collar crime, if I am in government and my assets increased disproportionately to my income, then it is my responsibility to declare where I got the money, but they changed this law,” he said.
Imran went on to claim that everyone knows that the “four mansions worth billions in London are owned by the Sharif family, but they are telling NAB to prove it, but NAB cannot prove this.”
“This means white collar crime cannot be caught in Pakistan, and Pakistanis have been told that if you want to mount a robbery on the state exchequer, make sure the haul is big because only a small thief will be caught.”
He went on to pose a question to the country’s protectors, that if thieves are robbing a house, can the gatekeeper of the house claim they are “neutral”?
Regarding the audio leaks, he said that the ruling coalition is not content with taking another national reconciliation ordinance (NRO) and is trying to make more money with Maryam Nawaz requesting the prime minister to help out her son-in-law and help import machinery from India – an act which is currently prohibited under the law.
“At this, Shehbaz is giving her assurances that the criminal Dar will come and make it alright,” he alleged.
On the leaks and what it means for national security, he said that if the security of the Prime Minister’s House has been compromised, it means that our enemies have access to our sensitive information.
“Who is responsible for this?”
“Are the ‘neutrals’ only here to crush the voices of social media activists, shut down the media? If you want to do this, then who will protect the interests of the state?”
If anyone says they are apolitical, know that there is no difference between them and an animal. An animal is apolitical. When a lion hunts a deer, the deer who are apolitical run for their lives,“ he said.
He went on to define what he meant by being political through a supposed quote from Greek philosopher Aristotle, claiming that he said: “If there is tyranny and injustice in society and if everyone stands up to fight it, then they are political.”
He went on to say that political leaderships are always graduate from the premier educational institutions of the country.