Imran Khan Reiterates that No NRO Will Be Granted

On Sunday, the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) held its power show at Minar-e-Pakistan in Lahore. Here, they made promises to send the current Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government home and ensure that they vacate all the seats in the government. However, soon after these statements, the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Imran Khan, had things to say as well.

The premier has once again firmly stated that neither he nor his government, will grant an NRO to the PDM, despite the tactics devised by the 11-party opposition alliance. He took to the social media platform, Twitter, to state exactly what he thought of the rally held in Lahore.

Khan said that the 11-party opposition alliance spent so much time, money, and effort to display only callousness. He accused the organizers and leaders of the power show of endangering the lives of the people as the coronavirus cases in the country continue to climb. In his opinion, the PDM has no regard for the safety and well-being of the citizens of Pakistan. 

On Sunday, the Prime Minister referred to the efforts of the opposition as nothing but an attempt to ‘blackmail’ him into granting them an NRO to protect their ‘looted’ wealth. 

The political gathering at Lahore was addressed by the routine bigwigs of the 11-party opposition alliance. This included the convener and the chief of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F), Maulana Fazlur Rehman, the Vice President of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Maryam Nawaz, and Chairman of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Bilawal Bhutto Zardari. In addition, various leaders of different parties of the opposition alliance also spoke at the rally. 

A while after his first tweet, the Prime Minister reiterated that he, under no circumstances, will grant an NRO to anyone in the opposition alliance. He stated that he was indifferent to the tactics being devised by the PDM to blackmail him. 

The rally at Minar-e-Pakistan was organized despite the fact that the leaders of the PDM were issued security threat alerts. They had also been requested by relevant authorities to abstain from holding large public gatherings due to the intensifying second wave of the coronavirus. 

The former Prime Minister of the country, Nawaz Sharif, also addressed the rally from London through video link. He claimed credit for resolving the chronic energy crisis faced by the country and making it the 7th atomic power. He went on to say that he ended load shedding, gas, and electricity shortages in the country back in 2013, as well as rooted out terrorism. 

The ousted Prime Minister claimed that his only crime was to speak the truth. He accused the ‘cronies’ of Imran Khan of minting money out of the sugar and wheat crisis. Addressing the crowd, Sharif claimed that he is fighting for the rights of the citizens of the country. 

Meanwhile, the Chief of JUI-F declared that the people of the country are slowly growing resentful of the current ‘illegitimate’ government. Thus, he cautioned, Pakistan could fall into a state of anarchy.