Pak govt to wait and watch as Imran Khan gets exhausted from onslaught of cases

Islamabad, June 11

A member of the Pakistan's federal cabinet has revealed that the government's current strategy is to simply watch and wait for former Prime Minister Imran Khan to get "exhausted" from an onslaught of cases as party leaders abandon him in flocks, media reports said.

The minister who requested anonymity said Imran Khan used to "assail his rivals" over corruption and for criticising the military, among other things. Now, he said, Imran Khan is himself now facing criminal charges and is accused of inciting his party workers to attack civil and military installations on May 9, Express Tribune reported.

"Things are coming full circle," the minister said, adding that the government meanwhile has adopted a "chill policy" and is only seeing how things, politically and legally, move ahead. To a question, he said Imran Khan would not be immediately allowed to go abroad as it is "time to face the music", Express Tribune reported.

He alleged that Imran Khan used the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and other investigating agencies against his opponents, kept accusing them of committing corruption, and poisoned the political arena by labeling others as thieves, looters, and traitors.

"Just see the irony. He (Imran) is facing the same criminal charges now (that he used to level against others). It is karma, I guess," the minister said, Express Tribune reported.

A day after the coalition government presented its second federal budget, another member of the ruling alliance seconded the minister's statement and also agreed with Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah who recently said either Imran Khan or his political opponents would survive as things had reached to a point of no return.

In March, Sanaullah had said that Imran had brought politics to a point where they would be forced not to follow any principle let alone talk about democracy, saying that either Imran or they would survive, Express Tribune reported.