A day after Prime Minister Imran Khan postponed his address to the nation, Federal Minister for Information Fawad Chaudhry said on Thursday that the premier will address the nation tonight.
In a post on Twitter, Fawad said the prime minister will speak to the nation tonight. A similar statement was made by Federal Minister for Interior Sheikh Rashid during a brief interaction with the media.
وزیر اعظم عمران خان آج رات قوم سے خطاب کریں گے
— Ch Fawad Hussain (@fawadchaudhry) March 31, 2022
Rashid said the prime minister will address the nation tonight. He claimed that the next two days were “very important”. “Imran Khan is standing steadfast against the traitors of democracy,” he added.
Read Military top brass calls on PM Imran
On Wednesday, the prime minister was slated to address the nation but it was postponed due to untold circumstances. In a tweet, PM’s aide Faisal Javed had said the prime minister’s address to the nation was being postponed but did not give any reason for its postponement.
The prime minister, who has lost his majority in the National Assembly after the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) joined hands with the opposition, is accusing the opposition of being a part of a ‘foreign-funded’ conspiracy to dislodge his government.
To corroborate his claim, PM Imran is also using an alleged letter by a foreign power wherein Pakistan was warned of “grave consequences” if the no-trust motion failed.
Meanwhile, the prime minister and the National Assembly speaker have summoned meetings of the National Security Committee and Parliamentary Committee on National Security at the Prime Minister House and Parliament House, respectively. The meetings will be briefed on the alleged letter sent to the premier by the foreign power.
Letter controversy
In light of the letter, PM Imran had convened an urgent cabinet meeting to discuss the issue of an ‘international conspiracy’ being hatched to topple his government through a secret letter – that he waved during his address at the party’s March 27 rally in Islamabad.
The cabinet ministers were shown the letter by the prime minister on a teleprompter, whereas the journalists were not shown the letter but its contents were shared with them in separate meetings. The letter has been sealed under the Official Secrecy Act.
Read Imran terms no-trust a foreign conspiracy
Imran had told the cabinet that he was doing politics of national interest rather than his own person. He had told the ministers that the letter was closely linked to the no-confidence motion. Imran had said that he would fight till the last ball and drive the opposition out of the ground. He said that the people are with him.
Imran, according to the sources, had said that attempts were being made to overthrow the elected government under a foreign conspiracy. The prime minister had told the ministers that the military leadership would also be taken into confidence on the letter.
Before the cabinet meeting, PM Imran addressing a ceremony in Islamabad had claimed the opposition’s no-confidence motion against him was a “huge foreign conspiracy against Pakistan”. However, he emphasised that he could not name the country which sent the ‘threatening letter’ because its results would not be good for the country.
The prime minister had said that the letter stated that Pakistan would face serious consequences if the no-confidence motion failed, adding that the language of the letter was extremely harsh and that the no-trust motion had been mentioned in it several times.
It may be mentioned here that the letter – being touted as a threat – had been sent by former Pakistani ambassador to the United States, Asad Majeed. It was sent after talks with the US assistant secretary of state for South Asia, the sources told The Express Tribune.