Army Chief’s appointment should be made on meritocracy: Imran Khan,

Former prime minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan on Wednesday slammed attempts to slander him through ‘propaganda’ using a ‘fugitive’ and linking an alleged sale of a gifted watch, adding that he will approach the courts over the matter.

Lahore/Jhelum_ He said this while addressing a rally in Jehlum and Sargodha via video link from his Lahore’s Zaman Town mansion on Wednesday,Imran addressed the elephant in the room, the claims made by UAE-based businessperson Umar Farooq Zahoor that he had paid $2 million in cash for a rare watch, pen, ring and cufflink set which Imran had received as a gift from the Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman during a state visit to Saudi Arabia soon after taking oath as prime minister in 2018.

He said that a fraud man, who was an absconder from European countries and against whom the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) had registered a case against, was now issuing a statement against him in the Toshakhana case.“He (Umar Farooq) is a fraud and a propagandist and there is nothing substantial in his statement,” Imran said, brushing aside the allegations.

“First they tried to drag me on the foreign funding issue. But after its failure, they converted it into a prohibited funding case, and now they are trying to assassinate my character through the Toshakhana case,” Imran said.The PTI chief announced that he will approach the courts over the latest attempts by the government to discredit him.Imran then went on the offensive, and in traditional style started pointing fingers outwards to deflect attention.He said that for years a case has been pending before the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) against former prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani who retained a car he had been gifted.

“Unfortunately, no one is pointing that out, nor is NAB probing the case.”On the purchase of the watch from the Toshakhana and its sale, Imran claimed that he did not understand what the fuss was about given that he had done everything as per the law while all the receipts had been submitted in the Toshakhana which the government can access at any moment.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman and former prime minister Imran Khan on Wednesday said the Army Chief’s appointment should be made on meritocracy.

Addressing the participants of the long march in Jhelum, Sargodha, Mardan and other cities via video link, the former premier said that he wants to tell the nation the motive behind staging his ‘actual freedom’ march, saying that he wants to tell the masses that the rulers – to whom he labeled thieves – have been imposed through the conspiracy and it is not acceptable for his party to back the elements of injustice and violence.

He added “One of the purposes of staging the march is to tell his supporters that Shehbaz Sharif and his son – Hamza Shehbaz – were about to convict in the case of Rs16billion at the time of the conspiracy. But the rulers waived their cases of Rs1100billion by passing the law in the National Assembly.”

Reiterating that the rule of law and justice would not be possible if the rulers keep on giving NRO to themselves and this will lead to the prevailing of the ‘law of the jungle’ in the country, Imran added that contrary, if anyone of the citizens of any highly developed country would involve in plundering, there remains no chance for that person to get NRO.

The PTI chief once again urged the Chief Justice of Pakistan to deliver justice over the matter of renowned journalist Arshad Sharif’s assassination, saying that the entire nation is looking at the Chief Justice to deliver justice. Imran added that if he will not get justice, then the common person could not even think of justice.

Recalling that there is no scarcity in the country’s resources, the PTI chairman said that the thing which made the country drag backward is the non-existence of rule and law.

Urging his supporters to get ready for heading to Rawalpindi, Imran said that he would further reveal his plan over heading towards Rawalpindi within two days, vowing to not do any sort of violation, while staging the PTI’s protest – in a peaceful manner.