Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan on Sunday, while condemning the plight of Muslims prevented from entering the United States (US) under US President Donald Trump’s immigration ban, expressed hope that the ban is extended to Pakistanis.
“I pray that [US President Donald] Trump stops giving us [Pakistanis] visas because then we will try fixing our own country,” Imran said while addressing a party gathering in Sahiwal on Sunday.
The PTI chief said most educated Pakistanis want to leave this country because they think they can only acquire gainful employment if they have a “powerful source”, and said he believes that things in Pakistan can only improve if people work for progress.
“The day we bring back the merit system back to Pakistan, all our best citizens will return and work for the betterment of this country,” Khan said. “The prime minister would go abroad even if he gets a headache. If it [the ban] happens, we will have to improve Pakistan and stand on our own feet.”
Trump’s sweeping executive order, signed Friday, suspends the arrival of refugees in the US for at least 120 days and bars visas for travellers from seven Muslim-majority countries ─ including Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen ─ for the next three months.
Khan lauded Iran’s tit-for-tat move in response to Trump’s immigration ban, which restricted US nationals travelling to Iran until the ban was lifted.
“Iran is an independent nation and we need to become like them,” Khan asserted.
Imran vowed to continue fighting against the alleged corruption of the Sharif family till his last breath.
“I need prayers of the nation’s mothers to fight against the king of corruption [PM Nawaz],” he said, adding, “I want youngsters and minorities to stand by me in this struggle.”
He said, “They may have elected Trump, but we have elected Nawaz Sharif.”
Taking a jibe at the prime minister, the PTI leader said the premier had broken all records of telling lies. “In my cricketing career I saw a lot of records being broken but I have never seen such high records of lies being broken as Nawaz Sharif as done,” he said.
He said that he felt sympathetic towards Maryam Nawaz because “Nawaz has brought her forward to hide his own corruption,” adding, “Nawaz Sharif is hiding behind his offspring.”
