Days after evading arrest in connection to the infamous Toshakhana corruption case, former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan lamented how his country was being ridiculed on Indian TV channels over its ‘economic condition.’
While addressing supporters of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, he said, “Hindustan ke TV pe dekhay, kis tarah mazak udd raha hai Pakistan ka (Watch the TV channels of India to learn how Pakistan is being ridiculed).”
“They (Indian TV channels) are happily announcing that Pakistan is on the brink of economic devastation,” Imran Khan lamented. He then invoked the ‘2-nation theory’ to claim that the dream of Mohammed Ali Jinnah was in danger.
“𝑼𝒏𝒉𝒂 𝒔𝒉𝒖𝒓𝒖 𝒔𝒆 𝒚𝒆𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒂”, Imran Khan pointing that Indian leaders always hoped that Pakistan will merge with India.
— Sidhant Sibal (@sidhant) March 11, 2023
“When Pakistan was created, what was the fear that existed among the Muslim community? The leaders in India were claiming that Pakistan could not exist on its own and will eventually merge with the country. This was India’s motive from the start,” claimed the former Pakistani Prime Minister.
“Why did we put so much emphasis on our security? Why did we maintain an army despite severe economic woes? And then the Pakistani army gave us confidence that it can defend us,” he further asserted.
Imran Khan concluded, “This is why the country was created in the first place – We wanted to be an independent nation where principles of Riyasat-e-Medina would exist. The most important principle of that era was rule of law. Pakistan got everything except justice and rule of law.”
Economic condition of Pakistan
Pakistan is experiencing its worst economic crisis amidst food shortages, flash floods, and poverty. As the government of Pakistan failed to end the economic crisis in Pakistan, over 7 million workers in its textile industry have been laid off.
Other than this, Pakistan, which was declared South Asia’s weakest economy by a report is also hit by a severe food crisis. The situation in several cities of Pakistan is so grave that flour is being rationed and guarded by armed guards. Prices of flour and wheat have witnessed a dramatic surge.
Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sindh, and Balochistan are among the worst sufferers as tens of thousands spend hours daily to get the subsidized bags of flour that are already short in supply in the market.
Incidents of clashes and stampedes have been reported in markets in many areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sindh, and Balochistan. The situation is so dire that flour-loaded mini trucks and vans are escorted by armed guards to avoid clashes. As these vehicles reach the markets, people gather around these vehicles.
Recently, the people of Pakistan took to Twitter to voice their woes as a nationwide power outage left almost all regions without electricity on January 24, 2023.
