Pakistan needs to learn from Bangladesh, says Imran Khan

Pakistan's former Prime Minister Imran Khan has said Bangladesh has moved far beyond Pakistan and there is a lesson that needs to be learned from the country.

“When a nation decides on freedom and its rights … when justice settles in people’s hearts … then whatever you do, even military operations, it doesn’t get out of their hearts. Because the seed of justice and freedom is within us,” he said.

In a live talk streamed on YouTube on Friday, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan appealed for immediate talks with all state institutions to find a solution to put Pakistan on the path of progress, reports Dawn.

“The country (Pakistan) is heading towards an imminent disaster since hyperinflation is around the corner. But the incumbent rulers are least bothered as they have stashed the looted wealth abroad,” he said from his Zaman Park residence in Lahore.

Reuters says Imran Khan, who says corruption charges have been concocted, is embroiled in a confrontation with the powerful military, which has ruled Pakistan directly or overseen civilian governments throughout its history.

Khan was arrested and detained on May 9, sparking widespread protests by his supporters, and raising new worries about the stability of the nuclear-armed country as it struggles with its worst economic crisis in decades.

He was later freed on bail.

In the video address, Mr Khan asserted that his appeal for dialogue should not be considered his weakness, adding that the physical and economic excesses being committed against the people of Pakistan was no solution. “The solution to the country’s problems rests in the state institutions functioning within their constitutional roles,” he said.

“Whenever I ask for a dialogue, the incumbent rulers think I am getting weak and they begin unleashing more excesses on PTI leaders and workers with the hope of crushing the party,” he regretted. He said no government could remove an ideology inculcated among the youth of the country.

He also warned the powers that be that they should exercise restraint as their attempt to crush the PTI could destroy the country. “No political party has ever witnessed such a barbaric action from the rulers,” he said.

Mr Khan said the country had already become a banana republic — a poor country with a weak government that depends on foreign money — because the rulers were not even respecting court orders to hold elections.