Lamenting once again fettered rule and control during his time in the Prime Minister's Office, Imran Khan said that General (retd) Qamar Javed Bajwa "did to Pakistan what no enemy could do to the country", adding that the former army chief gave NRO II to the then opposition.
"Gen (retd) Bajwa asked me to grant NRO II to the then opposition when the government had to pass laws related to the Financial Action Task Force. It was Gen (retd) Bajwa who gave NRO II to the then opposition," the PTI chief said in his address to the nation via video link.
Khan said the way his party was treated in the past seven months was "unprecedented", The Express Tribune reported. "(Our allies) were receiving calls from unknown numbers and were asked to stop supporting Imran Khan," he said.
"What happened with Arshad Sharif, Azam Swati, Shahbaz Gul and Jameel Farooqui happened only because they were giving statements in our favour," he added. The PTI chairman said he did not witness the kind of violation of human rights during the rule of former dictator General (Pervez) Musharraf that happened this time, Express Tribune reported.
"No enemy could do what General (retd) Bajwa did to Pakistan." Khan dispelled the impression that he was seeking the establishment's help to return to power and hoped that the establishment would remain "neutral".
"I want the establishment to be neutral so its honour increases," he pressed and noted that the distance between the establishment and the public had widened over the last few years. He reiterated that a strong army was in the country's best interest and he did not want the institution to weaken.
He pointed out that criticising some "black sheep" in the institution was "not the same as criticising the army". He stressed that it was important for all the stakeholders, including the establishment and judiciary, to realise that Pakistan's economy was standing at a crucial point today.
"I want to say this to all the institutions today, what is happening today will affect all of you, the entire country will go down and if that happens, national security will be impacted the most."
He further said that if a country defaults, then national security was the first area to get affected, adding that "everybody knows what will those who help the country bailout demand if Pakistan defaults", The Express Tribune reported.