Imran Khan is making threats against Pakistan, says Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif
If the country does not have fresh elections through legal and constitutional means, it will descend into a civil war, Khan has said.
Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday warned his ousted predecessor Imran Khan from making “naked threats” against the country.
In an interview with Bol News on Wednesday, Khan said that if the Pakistan does not make the right decisions, then the country could split into three parts and lose its nuclear deterrent capabilities.
Khan also said that Pakistan would descend into a civil war if fresh elections were not announced, Dawn reported.
Khan was ousted from power after losing a no-confidence vote on April 10. He has repeatedly claimed that the vote was part of a “foreign conspiracy” to topple him.
On Wednesday, Khan said that Pakistani Army will be destroyed if the government makes wrong decisions. “Pakistan is going towards a default,” he said. “If that happens then which institution will be [worst] hit? The army. After it is hit, what concession will be taken from us? Denuclearisation.”
In response, Sharif, who is on a visit to Turkey, warned Khan against talking about dividing Pakistan. Sharif also said that Khan was “unfit for public office”.
The Pakistan Peoples Party co-chairperson Asif Ali Zardari also condemned Khan’s remarks, calling it the language of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“No one can talk about fragmenting Pakistan,” he said, according to the Dawn. “This is not that language of a Pakistani but that of Modi.”
On May 26, Khan had given a six days to Sharif’s government to announce fresh elections. Supporters of his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party have been holding protests across the country against the government since his ousting.
He became the first prime minister in the country’s history to lose a no-confidence vote.
The 69-year-old had tried to sidestep the no-trust vote by dissolving Parliament and calling early elections, but Pakistan’s Supreme Court restored the National Assembly and ordered its speaker to call a session on April 9.