Lahore, Oct 13 Son of jailed former prime minister Imran Khan on Tuesday called the Pakistan government’s decision to impose an emergency in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province a “cowardly act” even as his father’s party accused the army of going after the rare earth deposits in the region.
President Asif Ali Zardari on Sunday proclaimed Articles 232(1) and 234(1) of the Constitution to declare an emergency in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, citing the deteriorating law and order situation, bringing the provincial government led by jailed former prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party to an end.
“The tyrannical crooks in charge of Pakistan continue to dismantle democracy, now arresting the elected chief minister of KPK. The world must see what’s happening. Repeated disgraceful and cowardly acts from Munir to stifle the voice of the people to cling onto power. Disgraceful,” Imran Khan’s son Kasim Khan posted on social media.
Khan, 73, was arrested on August 5, 2023, in a corruption case and has remained in custody since then. He has been lodged in Adiala Jail, a detention facility on the outskirts of Rawalpindi. His two sons, Sulaiman Khan and Kasim Khan, are British citizens.
Meanwhile, PTI said in a statement on Tuesday that the emergency was imposed in the province because of its natural resources: oil, gas, and minerals.
“Faisal Karim Kundi (KPK Governor) and the marketing that Asim Munir did was of those very minerals—Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s elected government of the people stood in the way of plundering and selling them to the world,” the statement said.
“The army, which has been harping on about terrorism to impose governor’s rule and emergency, now has its intentions laid bare. The entire world knows that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is brimming with reserves of rare earth minerals,” Veteran politician Javed Hashmi said in a post on social media.
“There are mines too. Asim Munir had gone to the White House and shown Trump those reserves, presenting his CV to the world. The whole world had seen it,” he said.
Hashmi was referring to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Field Marshal Asim Munir’s visit to Washington last year, during which they showed the rare earth samples to US President Donald Trump.
Hashmi alleged that the Pakistan government wants to oust China from the region, which is already working there, and impose America in the province.
“It’s China that’s working there, adhering to all the SOPs. The operation to oust them from there, impose America, declare governor’s rule, and remove from power the most popular government in Pakistan’s history was done precisely for this reason. They intend to fulfil their vile ambitions,” Hashmi said.
Addressing the Pashtuns, who are the dominant ethnic group in the province, he said: “This army has paraded you before the world as terrorists in order to sell you off to America. Imran Khan truly is the last wall between them and you. The harm from this act of theirs will fall on your generations.”
He alleged that the Army’s next targets are Punjab and Sindh.
(PTI News)
