If you rejoin party, I will forgive you: PM Imran Khan tells dissident MNAs

Dargai: Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan on Sunday said that if the PTI dissident MNAs rejoin the party, he will forgive them. 

Addressing a public gathering in Malakand district, the prime minister said that he is ready to forgive the dissident MNAs of the party given that they rejoin the party. He told the disgruntled the PTI MNAs, who had sought refuge at the Sindh House out of the fear of the government ahead of the no-confidence motion, they have committed a mistake by accepting a bribe from the opposition.

"A leader is like a father figure for you. Now, the nation has become exceedingly aware of politics because of social media, so even a child in the country knows that when a party member becomes a turncoat, there is money involved,” Imran Khan said. He reiterated that the whole nation would assume that the MNAs have sold their conscience by voting in favour of thieves. "You will not be able to attend public gatherings and no one would marry your children when they'd grow up," he warned his MNAs.

The premier also said that he is ready to forget all of his disgruntled MNAs given that they rejoin the PTI. "We all make mistakes. Allah also forgives his slaves. I am just like a father figure for you all. But for God's sake, don't make such a big mistake [by joining hands with the corrupt Opposition]. Think about your children's future," he mentioned.

PPP's Asif Ali Zardari in jail during its tenure

Criticizing the opposition, Imran Khan maintained that the PML-N threw PPP's Asif Ali Zardari in jail during its tenure, while the PPP also initiated corruption-related cases against PML-N when they were in power. He also said that it was the PML-N that had assigned the title of "diesel" to JUI-F's Maulana Fazlur Rehman as they accused him of selling diesel permits after taking money from the PPP.

He said that a leader has to lead by example, so if the public would see that their leader is corrupt, people will also follow suit. "When a nation becomes morally corrupt, they stop working hard because they resort to corruption as it brings easy money," he said.

Responding to the Opposition's criticism, the prime minister said that in the last three-and-a-half years, the PTI-led government did things for the betterment of the country that had been unprecedented in the country. "I am the only leader in the history of Pakistan who brought up the issue of Islamophobia on every international platform. I thank Allah and the Holy Prophet (PBUH) for giving me success and now the United Nations has also acknowledged the issue."

Fazl couldn't muster courage to bring issue of Islamophobia up

Imran Khan further said that Fazl, throughout his career, couldn't muster the courage to bring the issue of Islamophobia up because he was scared of being labelled as a terrorist. He said that with his government’s efforts, the United Nations have now started recognizing Islamophobia. “Despite 30 years of politics, Fazlur Rehman never spoke a word on it,” he added.

Country steered itself out of deadly coronavirus pandemic

He said that under his leadership, the country steered itself out of the deadly coronavirus pandemic for which the entire world lauded Pakistan. "The country is now on the path to progress which has been unprecedented in the country," he said.

PTI breaks records in terms of agricultural exports

Imran Khan then talked about the tax collection targets that his government achieved and also shed light on the record number of remittances received from abroad which, he said, added greatly to the national exchequer. "We also broke records in terms of agricultural exports, IT exports, and the construction sector," he said. "The government collaborated with different banks to provide [housing] loans to people so that they could become homeowners."