First, let me bring some good news. Since this government came to power, they haven’t given this nation a moment’s peace. The prices of diesel and petrol have been increased. And as you can see, the price of high-speed diesel has been raised by thirty rupees per liter.
And for regular petrol, which is called motor spirit, the price has gone up by five rupees. But the new news is that from today, petrol and diesel prices will increase or decrease on a daily basis. Daily! Is there any country in the world that keeps its public in such a lawless state?
First of all, you have to follow whatever the government says; the pumps must do exactly what they say. Now it is being announced that prices will change every day. For example, if today the price is three hundred fifty-three, and tomorrow it goes up to four hundred… Then the petrol station owners will know at night; they will close the pumps.
They’ll say, “Hey, tomorrow’s selling price will drop, so we’ll operate accordingly.” So the pump owners already know what price is coming, right? What is that man really up to? It is an attempt to create chaos in this country. He is trying to cause chaos and bloodshed on the petrol and diesel queues in this country.
This new plan they have launched, and they are boasting loudly about it. They say, “We have saved the country from default; it has been five years since their government took office.” Until now, they keep saying they saved us from default, but which default? The one they created themselves in the first place.
Now, my fellow Pakistanis, this is going to be good news for you. The program of keeping you squeezed is underway—and loudly so. Naturally, the Pakistani public won’t say anything about it, but I will keep updating you on the economy alongside these developments. Just as they have you pinned—Shehbaz Sharif had said it, no?
The stick is to be taken to you; meaning, you are done for. I will show you that clip, but first, let’s look at these two news items. Foreign investment in Pakistan. Yes, because I give you a little touch of their destruction regarding the economy every day.
Foreign investment in Pakistan has dropped by approximately one billion dollars this year. Last year it was 2.4 billion dollars, but this year it has fallen to 1.6 billion dollars. That is a drop of about one billion dollars; if you calculate it as 800 million dollars…
Look at another piece of news for a country that is begging for every penny. Consider Pakistan’s fruit and vegetable exports. There has been a forty-four percent decline in quantity and a thirty percent drop in dollar terms. Just look at Pakistan’s condition—a country we ourselves call an agricultural country, whose exports are either textiles or farm produce—fruit and the like.
We sold our mangoes-shmangoes, our kinnows and whatnot. As for Shehbaz Sharif— may Allah forgive him—he once told the nation: the stick is to be taken to you.
So that stick video—I will definitely play it for you, so you remember: it’s the PML-N that promised you the stick. Because they came to power claiming: the stick will be taken to you.
So look at what Shehbaz was saying about you This is the revenge being taken—for this: “How dare you support an outsider?” That’s one thing; the other aspect is that they are staggeringly incompetent—
The military men and the civilians with them alike. Those people who have been watching me continuously for eight years, I joined this field in 2018. They know that I have been consistently saying one thing: That these are not just corrupt, they are incompetent people. Their incompetence has always remained hidden and suppressed, but you have no idea.
And I often used to say: granted, Buzdar did not fully measure up to Imran Khan’s ideology—Buzdar was below what Imran Khan stands for. But if the competition is with Shehbaz Sharif, then Buzdar was better than Shehbaz Sharif. Today you have seen Shehbaz Sharif in the federation; look at his performance.
Now tell me, Buzdar had even handled the pandemic during his tenure. Buzdar had also started building the underground water storage within Lahore. Not once did a farmer say in Punjab that they had been rolled over. No one ever said that their sugarcane crop was rotting where it lay.
And we are being looted. So when I used to say this, people didn’t understand. In backing Buzdar, I was not really backing Buzdar himself; I was telling you how incompetent these people are—that even Buzdar is better than them. Actually, I used to say this.
Today time has proven it. That whoever is sitting there and has been installed as the favorite in Punjab, even a hundred of them put together could not equal one Buzdar.
So think about what competition they would have against any competent person who comes along. They have imposed a super duper ultra pro max Buzdar on Punjab. The generals used to say that the fight we had with Imran Khan was because of Buzdar. Today they have imposed something a hundred times beyond Buzdar—in Punjab; and in the federation, don’t even ask about the state of the Orderly sahib.
The Orderly government has laid the stick on you good and hard. So one hopes this nation will come to understand.
So your investment has gone down. Exports have gone down. Unemployment has increased, poverty has increased. Hunger and destitution have increased.
Now tell me, how will the country run? Because those who came bringing peace, I will show you there as well. These are images of complete devastation that have recently arrived from Iran. America has started such attacks in Iran.
Look, I will show you images one after another. Look at this—these bridges have been destroyed.
Look at this one. And look at this. And this one here. Bridges inside Iran are being destroyed connecting one place to another, which are the most important routes.
The connections are being ruined. So that so-called peace they brought has been shattered into pieces. In fact, that peace Mir Jafar sahib supposedly brought to the Strait of Hormuz—it has drowned in the Strait of Hormuz itself.
Now on one side is this situation: That their so-called brought peace has also been shattered into fragments. On the other side there is this situation: These fifteen hundred—you say they are fifteen hundred men, claiming: we will take it away. Your next ten generations couldn’t take it away. God willing.
You see—judge for yourselves: in Balochistan, these fifteen hundred people belonging to the BLA, the BLF, the BRAS and so on—you fifteen hundred have made everyone’s life miserable. What has happened is that all of Balochistan is burning; I showed you a small collage of just four or five videos; fire is everywhere in Pakistan. The Pakistani Army has lost control over Balochistan. All the independence movements that are
Active right now show that Balochistan is in the most dangerous situation at this time. And if the generals come to their senses—though frankly I have no hope of sense from them—but I keep saying to the army as an institution: Do we want to save the country and the institution, or destroy everything in someone’s servitude? That decision has to be made. Because the whole nation is waiting for a new General Kayani, and I tell the nation: when a new General Kayani comes, he will be worse than the last one.
So don’t wait for a General Kayani; instead, try to bring the institution to its senses. And sense now says this: rid yourselves of the one-man show—First choose your leader with consensus, and then go to the barracks and sit there. That is the real point—not that another General Kayani should come. He will conspire against it, then seize power himself, and then also take an extension.
What benefit will we get, brother? What reward will we get from these optional prayers? It’s not like one general will come and then another will arrive. I have been continuously telling you one thing: look at this factory.
It produces defective goods; I have visited this factory several times. It feels like you have entered a colony of the British government when when you go to that general-making factory at Kakul—when you go there, believe me—how many people will have been there? Obviously not a large percentage. It feels like you have entered the territory of the British government.
The mansions are like that, the behavior is like that, the style is all the same, the way of eating and drinking is also the same. In other words, everything is the same, so we are passing through an era of slavery. And there, Murad Saeed has publicly disowned Sohail Afridi; he has made a post, and I will read it out for you. I reposted it too, I guess.
In fact, they have told a whole story which they had in their book mentioned in his book as well; this is the highlighted piece, so I will read a little of it. He says that my long article will cause discomfort to some circles, and so be it, whoever that may be. He says: since a debate has broken out on this line, let me use the occasion to put a few facts before you. Why has it come to the point of discussing this?
First, Let me tell you that the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government, regarding Imran Khan’s the project he started was the University of Computing Science and Information Technology in Swat—it has now been inaugurated, and on the foundation stone, there is the name of Sohail Afridi Murad Saeed’s name, and Mina Khan Afridi’s name; Imran Khan isn’t even mentioned, so people are criticizing this. You have excuses from Murad Saeed; let me tell you what he is saying, and then you can decide for yourself. He says: Imran Khan launched the 2018 election campaign from Swat, and yesterday, the helicopter landed at the very spot in my village where Imran Khan’s helicopter had landed back then. Khan sahib praised the place; I told him the army had been occupying it since the Swat operation, and said: God willing, when you are Prime Minister, this occupation will have to be ended.
An elderly woman—whose five children the army had taken away ten years ago, and who had been coming to me for months—
I handed her petition to Imran Khan at that rally. I also requested Khan sahib: last month, a notification imposed tax on FATA and PATA—promise us today that it will be abolished. Imran Khan’s government was formed; as a cabinet member, in its very first meeting, I reminded him. The Customs Act was abolished that very day; but the struggle to get the land vacated from the army, and to recover the elderly mother’s children, went on.
When excuses kept being made to the Prime Minister, I chose that same site for my constituency’s two newly approved projects—the university and the hospital. During our own government, the army threatened us and tried everything, but we gave the inauguration date. The result: civil society was used as a shield to go to court. Before the case was filed, we organized a protest by genuine civil society demanding that public space be cleared and this illegal occupation be vacated.
The army—during our own government—painted me as a traitor and lodged a complaint with the Prime Minister. Khan sahib called me in and asked about the new controversy; I reminded him this was that same place. Khan sahib summoned his military secretary and said: send them the message— this man is getting an occupation vacated, and you come to me saying he wants to occupy! Khan sahib asked: you will get the people’s land vacated—but can’t these projects be moved elsewhere, so they don’t suffer delay?
I said: sir, in all this time I have not managed to get the army’s occupation vacated; The plans are so large that the public themselves will reclaim their land. Khan sahib said: let me handle this—things are already tense over the accountability process; relations with the army, because of Imran Khan’s accountability drive, were deteriorating. Just think what kind of institution this is— how it gets itself perceived—but: “choose your battles carefully, you have many fights.” Eventually we won all the cases, and the inauguration was announced. The DG sent a message: do it if you can.
This inauguration—before it, we gathered the public at that very spot; stopping the project was no longer possible, so a new tactic was adopted. Meaning: in Imran Khan’s own era, a DG was issuing threats to PTI—go ahead, hold your inauguration. Just think how they control everything. The FWO expressed its desire to take the project’s contract without any tender.
That is: when the matter would not stop, they came to take the tender—give us the contract. From the Corps Commander to senior officials, everyone contacted the Chief Minister and the departments concerned. The DG FWO asked for a meeting with me, and when we met, He said: congratulations, these are big projects—let’s draw up a nice PC-1 together and say Bismillah. I replied: PC-1 is no business of yours or mine—that is for the department concerned and its officers; then there is Planning and Development, then the advertisement, tender and bidding process.
He said: no—for quality, fast work, it is necessary that we sit down together. We rejected their offer, and after open bidding, the project began in 2021. Yesterday, the inauguration of this project took place, which has a long history of struggle. The whole matter began with the plaques— with plaques being taken down, and with whether Imran Khan’s name is written on a plaque or not.
Writing it or not does not minus Imran Khan; Imran Khan is minused by accepting the idea that he is just an individual who,
By cutting off channels of communication, the ideology and thoughts he has given can be nullified. Reflect on how much we ourselves, by our words and deeds, are helping to reinforce that impression. Neither Imran Khan’s name nor Imran Khan himself needs to be on placards. Nor could I gain anything by putting my own name on a plaque without Imran Khan.
I had no knowledge of this plaque affair, and I have no remaining contact with the Chief Minister. The said project is one from Imran Khan’s era. It was a project that we had to make possible by fighting a long battle with the military mafia. I would have been glad if its inauguration, too, had been worthy of that struggle—if a practical and exemplary movement for Imran Khan’s release were underway, if, against the drone operations, we stood before the big compounds with police arrest orders in hand, and if, to stop the operation, we were striving on every constitutional, legal and public front.
“But alas”—so basically Murad Saeed has declared his dissociation from Sohail Afridi. He has said: I know nothing about any of it—I am not responsible for his words and deeds; how he inaugurates things, I don’t know; I don’t know who gets their name put on the plaque; I don’t know whose name is being written, and whose is not being written, I don’t know.
So basically Murad Saeed has disowned the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government and Sohail Afridi. Now—because Sohail Afridi’s public identity, like Meena Khan Afridi’s and the rest—all these young men, plus some Khattak sahib whose name escapes me—all these young men were introduced by this: that Murad Saeed had founded the ISF.
So these are ISF guys, meaning there is some connection. Now this it is now clear that Murad Saeed has disowned these people—declared his dissociation, saying: I have no connection with anyone, no contact, nothing; I need none of these things, and none of it pleases me.
But he has also told us what a big affair this was. And here, too, Sohail Afridi has handed the army a victory—this part I am adding myself: How? In 2018 the army dug in its heels: we will not let this be built. Murad Saeed stood firm, and Imran Khan gave Murad Saeed full backing: do the work.
And the real power was Imran Khan’s—otherwise, who can pick a fight with the army? Then, step by step, it reached the point where work on the project began in 2021.
Now, when it was inaugurated, it was necessary to mention Imran Khan’s name. Look—whoever laid the foundation stone of a project, writing his name was essential; that is simply the norm.
But Imran Khan doesn’t need plaques; my logic is this: because the army does not want that name there, they wanted one final victory—and that victory Sohail Afridi has dropped into the army’s lap: here you go—for the four, five, six, even eight years of humiliation this project caused you—because Murad Saeed dug in and Imran Khan backed him—take this last victory as compensation: we won’t write Imran Khan’s name. The main point is that Imran Khan does not need placards, but putting Imran Khan’s name on this plaque was what resistance demanded. It was not put there; Sohail Afridi surrendered in front of the army; let me tell you why now. When the first case against Gandapur was filed and he was summoned by the Election Commission, along with that case, his honey bottle case was also registered.
So I
I said back then too: if Gandapur buckles under the pressure, he’s gone—and he did. Sohail Afridi is now under exactly the same kind of pressure: arrest warrants are being issued against him in Islamabad; he is being declared an absconder. This is exactly the case-pressure the army uses. My expectation was that a young member of the middle class would say: I choose jail—I kick this office aside, I would go to jail, or even come to Islamabad as Chief Minister and offer myself for arrest: if you’re going to arrest me, do it—so the world sees it, and my nation knows that even as Chief Minister.
I am ready to go to jail—I will not sacrifice the ideology. But it seems Sohail Afridi has taken the pressure of those cases Apparently, this is what we see given the current circumstances.
Anyway, all these developments have come before us and now a news report comes which I want to share with you an Israeli outlet—Axios—has shared this, so I too want to share it with you. Just look: “US sending dozens of refueling planes to Israel as Iran escalation looms.” A very dangerous situation. There are two reports; the first is from Barak Ravid—who is Israeli—writing in Axios: amid the escalation with Iran, that America has sent not just one or two, but dozens Dozens of aerial refueling aircraft, the kind used for air-to-air refueling, have been dispatched because matters are now heading toward escalation; alongside this, there is an unconfirmed report that many fighter jets are also being sent, meaning that preparations for a very big attack are underway. Which means: whatever the Field Marshal was needed for, whatever use they had for him, that has been done, and now matters are moving ahead.
Then yet another news item comes— I will share that with you. Hassan Khan is reporting on this matter, and he is the one reporting it, and I want you to also look at this thing along with its source. It would be better if you see it too, so I’ll show it to you as well. Although I could have read it out, I think showing it directly is better.
Whoever breaks the news also gets the credit for it, and in this regard, I feel good about giving credit to Hassan Khan, who reports that enough is enough. Pakistan tells Iran to refrain from launching attacks on Saudi Arabia, as that will be considered a direct attack on Pakistan, according to government sources. The message has been conveyed by Pakistan’s top civil and military leadership to the the highest-level Iranian leadership, Hassan Khan claims this. Reporters say that Pakistani government sources report that the top civil and military leadership of Pakistan has given Iran this warning: do not attack Saudi Arabia—stop the attacks— Otherwise, we will be forced again to defend Saudi Arabia. meaning: then Pakistan too will strike you.
So where are things heading? You can gauge it from here. A favorite Field Marshal isn’t made for free—I have been telling you from day one: a collar has been put on him—bark when they say bark, attack when they say attack; whatever they say, he will do. That is how people get made favorites, right?
So that is the latest situation, which is not at all a good situation for Pakistan. We can pray. God willing, we will meet again. Goodbye.
May you all be protected and blessed. Thank you very much for listening to me.
