Imran Khan Calls for Mass Participation Rally for True Freedom

Rawalpindi: Imran Khan, the founder of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), has claimed that the recent amendments to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) laws are a means of providing a ‘NRO 2’ (National Reconciliation Ordinance) to protect white-collar criminals.

During a conversation with journalists at Adiala Jail, Khan stated that the PTI’s rally on September 8 will proceed as planned and urged all party workers to come out of their homes for the cause of “true freedom.

Khan criticized the NAB amendments, calling them a pathway to the country’s destruction. He argued that the role of the parliament is to protect public money. During PTI’s 3.5 years in power, NAB collected 480 billion rupees, and Khan emphasized that no new cases were filed by his government; all cases were from previous administrations, including false cases from the Musharraf era.

Khan also highlighted the economic distress faced by the people, noting that skyrocketing electricity bills and inflation have pushed the country towards a revolutionary situation.

He mentioned that NAB was previously under Pervez Musharraf, then under General Bajwa during his tenure, and is now under Asim Munir. He stressed that NAB should function as an independent and autonomous body. Khan denied threatening NAB officials, clarifying that he merely said he would pursue cases against those responsible for the 3.5 billion rupees spent on a 18 million rupee loss.

Khan further alleged that an agreement was made with Nawaz Sharif in London to destroy PTI, leading to injustices against his party. He also mentioned that there should be no increase in hatred.

Regarding the situation of Mohsin Naqvi, Khan said that $550 million remains unaccounted for and no one is questioning it. He revealed that former NAB Chairman Javed Iqbal informed him of billions of rupees worth of cases against Nawaz Sharif and Asif Zardari, but General Bajwa prevented any progress.

Imran Khan questioned the fairness of his wife being blamed, revealing that she had pleaded with him to cancel the August 22 rally and had assured him of support for the September 8 rally. He accused current obstacles to the rally as being unjust and inconsistent.