Pak Opposition leaders angry over PM Khan's jibe at them during diaspora speech in US

Leaders of Pakistan's Opposition party leaders on Monday denounced Imran Khan for his controversial comments against them in the US, saying the "selected" Prime Minister was an "embarrassment" for the country.

Khan, on his first official visit to the US after coming to power in August last year attacked Opposition party leaders, including jailed former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and ex-president Asif Ali Zardari while addressing the Pakistani diaspora in Washington on Sunday.

While referring to political leaders in the country, Khan said: "They have one purpose, they want to hear three words from me: NRO (National Reconciliation Ordinance)."

The NRO is a controversial amnesty ordinance issued by the former President of Pakistan, General Pervez Musharraf, on October 5, 2007. It benefitted leaders Zardari. The NRO was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of Pakistan on December 16, 2009.

 

Prime Minister Khan said that under his government, powerful individuals in Pakistan were being held accountable, which included the seizure of their benami properties.

Reacting to Khan's statements, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari said: "Imran is a ruler not a leader."

He said that the country needs a leader who speaks for Pakistan and not "just himself."

"Pitty even when representing our country abroad the selected prime minister can't get off his container," he said.

PPP Senator Sherry Rehman called Khan's rally in DC is an "embarrassment" for the nation.

She further claimed that diplomats in Islamabad were "shocked and embarrassed" after Khan's polarising speech to the crowd gathered in the US capital.

PPP Secretary General Syed Nayyar Hussain Bukhari said, "Imran Khan is selected, but he should also take care of the country's honour."

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Secretary General Ahsan Iqbal on Monday strongly criticised Prime Minister Khan for his policies in general and his speech in Washington in particular.

Addressing a press conference in Islamabad, flanked by PML-N leaders Marriyum Aurangzeb and Dr Mussadik Malik, the former planning minister said, "Yesterday, our selected prime minister admitted that the opposition leaders were arrested on the government's behest."

"It has revealed once again that the so-called accountability is a vengeful agenda of the government," he said, accusing the government of "using national institutions for political gains.