ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan on Saturday termed the Panama case verdict ‘pinnacle’ of his 21-year long struggle against “corrupt mafia”, ARY News reported.
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“There were many ups and downs in this struggle and the struggle was to get rid of the criminals we call politicians and the corrupt mafia in the country,” Imran Khan told ARY News anchor Arshad Sharif.
A five-judge Supreme Court bench on Friday disqualified Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in a unanimous verdict in the Panamagate case, thus cutting short his third stint in power.
Soon after the SC judgement, the PM House issued a terse statement saying that Nawaz Sharif, despite having reservations on the SC’s verdict, has stepped down from his post as the premier.
Answering a question, Imran Khan also revealed what he was feeling before and after the announcement of the verdict and said that he was pretty sure that the verdict will be against Nawaz but he feared that despite corruption, Sharif family may come out unscathed from the court.
“The first thing which came to my mind was that this (verdict) is the foundation of new Pakistan and rule of law. For the very first time, a powerful man was made to follow the law. They (the Sharifs) were ruling like Mughals, they misused state’s resources at will, owned palaces abroad and broke laws without accountability. Whoever rules this country should be held accountable and I am happy,” said Imran Khan.
‘ELECTIONS AHEAD’
As the judges ruled to send references against Nawaz Sharif, his children Maryam, Hussain and Hasan, son-in-law Captain (retd) Safdar and Ishaq Dar to an accountability court, Imran Khan maintained that the matter is not going towards election of a new premier but fresh polls.
“This whole family is in trouble and Hudaibiya Paper Mills scam also had names of Ishaq Dar and Shahbaz Sharif, so I think their leadership will stand the test. The way they (Sharifs) handled the party, I don’t think they had a second-tier leadership ready to take over, they only had their family so I don’t think anyone will be able to control PML-N,” said Imran Khan.
He, however, claimed that till today he was focused on the case but he and his party will now develop a strategy which will be announced in Sunday’s rally.
Imran Khan revealed that he received a lot of criticism after calling November 2 lockdown after Supreme Court started investigation into allegations of corruption against prime minister’s family but he thought that it was the only democratic way to fight against corruption.
