Prime Minister Imran Khan has rubbished the impression that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf was playing a ‘politics of the victor’, saying that all the corruption cases against former President Asif Ali Zardari and former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif were made before his government was sworn in.
In an interview to the Turkish state broadcaster Turkish Radio and Television (TRT), he said that it was always tough to remove a status-quo that is deeply embedded and entrenched in a society, but a ‘genuinely popular public movement’ had finally pushed it out.
“The previous governments didn’t allow the courts to function, and the state institutions supposed to prosecute the criminals and big politicians were controlled by the same politicians”, he said.
“The Pakistani institutions are no longer controlled by such elements and they are free to go after anyone, be it a land-grabber or a politician involved in criminal activities”, he added.
“In our entire history, the powerful always got away [with their wrongdoings], and the weak got in jails. But now, the law is taking its course against people making billions [through corruption]”, he said.
He said that Pakistan had taken a downward trajectory since 1985 and a country which was once the fastest-growing economies in Asia, had now been taken over by India, Bangladesh and even Sri Lanka.
“Corruption not only syphons off money that should be spent on people, but it also destroys institutions”, he said.
Pakistan-Turkey relationships
To a question about the relationship between Turkey and Pakistan, PM Khan said that the Muslims of subcontinent always had close ties with the Turks and it started with Turkey’s fight for independence under Mustafa Kamal Ataturk’s leadership.
“Muslims of India, especially of areas that are now in Pakistan, collected funds and sent to Turkish brothers to help them in their fight for independence. Since then this bond has stayed”, he said.
“People of turkey know what Muslims of India did at that time, and Muslims of India take pride in how Turks fought against colonialism and got independence”, PM Khan said.
“There are also trading links between Turkey and Pakistan, and we want to enhance them. We have decided to have a working group to draw a plan for the next 5-10 years to increase trade and investing in each other”, he said.
To a question about the now proscribed Gulen-backed Pak-Turk International Cag Education Foundation (PTICEF) which ran Pak-Turk International Schools in Pakistan, the prime minister said that the courts took their time in deciding the matter and now the Supreme Court has declared them to be a terror outfit.
