‘Tapes’ are totally drama to cover corruption cases: PM Imran

–Laments absconder allowed to share the stage with CJP

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan has termed the ‘tapes’ a total drama from corrupts to cover their cases being heard in the courts.

He was addressing the Kamyab Nojawan Convention 2021 organized here in Islamabad on Wednesday.

The PM said that corruption of the Sharif family was exposed in the Panama Papers first time and Maryam Nawaz Sharif was found an owner of four flats in London having worth billions of rupees.

He said the Sharif family had failed to provide a money trail of their flats and tried to do fraud by showing a fraud Qatari Letter into the court and then the Calibri scandal.

Imran Khan said they challenged my flat in London but I had provided all the documents and other details including money trail to the court.

PM Imran said the Sharif family had not provided documents and other details of money transactions but tried to fraud through Qatari Letter and Calibri so the Supreme Court convicted Nawaz Sharif and Maryam.

Despite a conviction of Sharifs in corruption cases, they started raising slogans like ‘Why he was ousted” but still they are not ready to provide pieces of evidence of their money trails.

The prime minister said that Nawaz Sharif initially peddled lies before the Parliament and later a Qatari letter was submitted before the court also turned out to be fake in a case involving Panama Papers. “They are still unable to reveal the ownership and the money used to buy the four London flats,” he said adding that the nations are destroyed when lies and theft are not considered foul.

He said that the nations ended when their ethics and moral values died. He suggested to the nation to follow the examples set by Hazrat Muhammad (SAW) by calling a spade to spade.

Anyhow, he said he had a belief that Pakistan would become a great country after cleaning the system from the corrupt elements.

He also lamented that an absconder was allowed to share the stage with Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Justice Gulzar Ahmed during an event in Lahore.

“There is a function in Lahore where the chief justice and Supreme Court judges are invited and who addresses that event? A man who has been convicted by the Supreme Court and who has absconded from the country,” the prime minister said. “It is unfortunate.”

“Chief Justice of Pakistan was invited to an event in Lahore and later a person [Nawaz Sharif] who left the country while telling lies before the court was also allowed to speak from the event,” he said.

He continued that a nation was destroyed when it stopped considering looting money a bad thing. “When a nation’s morals die, that nation dies.”

In this regard, he also gave the example of the state of Madinah, the foundation for which, he said, was laid on the basis of differentiating between right and wrong and denouncing the bad. “No one can wipe out a nation if its morality is intact,” he remarked.

The premier, at the outset of his address, said he told his mother at the age of nine that he wanted to become a Test cricketer, but all of his relatives brought him down, saying that he could not become one — and not be a part of the national team.

The prime minister said he not only became a cricketer but also led the team to their maiden World Cup victory in 1992. “I worked hard, become the best bowler of Pakistan and later on, the world […] everyone told me that it was impossible,” the prime minister said.

The premier said when he wanted to build a hospital, establish a university in a rural area, everyone told him that he could not do it. “When I came into politics, people made fun of me — including major analysts — for 14 years.”

PM Imran Khan said people told him that in a two-party system, a third party could not form the government. “Ever since we came into power three years ago, I am hearing that we will fail.”

“Everyone said it was impossible, but Allah made it possible,” he noted, adding that no person has ever become successful through shortcuts, as the secret to success was having a big vision and determination.

The prime minister said that the youth has got the opportunity to excel and at the same time benefit their country through the loans and skill development programmes being offered to them via Kamyab Jawan Programme.

The prime minister said the country was going through a tough time due to the coronavirus as businesses had halted and prices of commodities shot up.

However, to alleviate the adverse effects of the pandemic, “the government, through Kamyab Pakistan, will provide interest-free loans to four million deserving households for building their own homes and teach them skills”, he said.

The prime minister said that citizens of all the provinces and regions where the PTI is in power, including Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan, Azad Jammu and Kashmir, and Gilgit-Baltistan, will get universal healthcare, starting from January in Punjab.

PM Imran Khan said families could get their ailing relatives treated at hospitals under the health scheme — worth Rs700,000-1,000,000.

The premier told the event’s participants that when he came into politics 25 years back, he had noted that the country’s biggest problem was corruption.

He said a country where the prime minister and ministers badly damage the country’s economy when they start corruption and siphon the illicit money abroad — and they keep it stashed in foreign countries to hide it from the people.

“I have said it already that nations are not poor, but when the prime ministers and ministers start looting the country’s wealth, that nation cannot progress,” he said. TF Report