ISLAMABAD: A leading contender to be Pakistan’s next prime minister haspledged to boost ties with Saudi Arabia if his party wins this month’sgeneral election.
In an exclusive interview with Arab News, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)chairman Imran Khan said his country enjoyed a “very special relationshipwith Saudi Arabia” and he planned to nurture it further.
He said it was important for Pakistan to have good relations with othercountries, and its ties with Saudi Arabia were unique since the Kingdom had“always been a friend to Pakistan in its difficult times.”
Discussing the ongoing political turmoil in the Middle East, Khan said:“Pakistan should play the role of a healer and bring people together. Whatit should not do, however, is be partisan because we have already sufferedby joining a conflict that was led by the United States … So we need peaceand the best thing for us would be to play a role of conciliation amongMuslim countries.”Khan said he believed the military was the only state institution that isproperly functioning in Pakistan.
“All the other state institutions have been devastated by corruption,cronyism and destruction of merit,” he said. “That explains why otherinstitutions are lagging behind. What we need is to raise all institutionsup and then make them work together.”
Khan was about to sit in his helicopter to visit Mardan and Swabi when ArabNews caught up with him for an interview. The PTI leader exuded confidenceas he prepared to meet the public — although according to Pakistan’s topcounterterrorism authority, his name features high on a hit list preparedby various militant factions operating in this volatile region.
The PTI leader said he was more confident than ever that his party was in aposition to win the election on July 25. “This is the best campaign we haverun,” he said. “I think we are the party that is prepared for it and I feelthis is our time.”
Khan has woven his election narrative around the twin problems ofcorruption and selective implementation of the law. After struggling for 22years, his moment arrived last July when the Supreme Court of Pakistanfirst barred the three-time prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, from holdingpublic office, before an anti-graft tribunal recently convicted him ofowning assets beyond his stated means of income.
Sharif was in London to meet his wife, who suffered a heart attack lastmonth, when the accountability court announced the verdict against him.There was some speculation that he might not return to the country.However, he flew back to Pakistan last Friday with his co-convicteddaughter, Maryam, to face the justice system and was immediately thrownbehind bars.“This is the first time a powerful crook has been brought through a courtof law and put into prison,” Khan said. “It is a big achievement forPakistan.”However, it was still not enough, he said. “Sharif is not the only one.Asif Zardari [of the Pakistan Peoples Party] is the other leader in thiscountry who has accumulated billions of dollars of wealth outside Pakistan… These are the two symbols of corruption.”
Khan said the two politicians had not only “damaged the country bysiphoning off money which should go to the people” but also “put pressureon the rupee” by keeping their wealth abroad. “The rupee falls, the dollarrises because of money-laundering, and it is a double blow to the country.”
The PTI leader said that Pakistan was awaiting across-the-boardaccountability. “Justice is blind,” he said. “It does not care whethersomeone belongs to PTI, Peoples Party or PML-N (Pakistan MuslimLeague-Nawaz). Anyone who steals should be put behind bars.
“The problem with Pakistan is that we have not followed this principle. Wehave one law for the powerful and one for the weak … Only the weak go tojail, the powerful go to the assemblies … That is why this country issuffering.”
Khan did not deny that he might have disbursed party tickets among someindividuals who reek of corruption. “We do not have any intelligence agencyto test if someone is corrupt or not,” he said. “If the law allows, we givethem tickets to contest elections. But what we will do when we acquirepower is to initiate a robust accountability process. No one will bespared.”Asked about his top priorities if he managed to form the next government,he said that he would strengthen the National Accountability Bureau (NAB)and fix the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR). The former, he noted, wouldclamp down on corruption, while the latter, mandated to collect taxes,would make it easier “to pay for our expenditures and have enough money tospend on our human beings.”
Khan once ran a potent campaign against US drone strikes in Pakistan’stroubled northwestern territories and even instructed his party workers inthe Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province to block NATO supply lines to Afghanistan.However, he said his administration would like to have “mutuallybeneficial” relations with Washington, though he also expressed hisdiscontent with American governments for using Pakistan “liked a hired gun.”“Fighting their wars has proved very costly for Pakistan. What we wouldlike to have is a mutually beneficial relationship with the US and with allthe neighbors,” he said.