Bahawalnagar/LODHRAN - Imran Khan on Sunday lambasted PML-N and PPP calling them cohorts of corruption, but said his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf faces more threats from within than without.
The cricketer turned politicians is running a countrywide campaign to mobilise public against the government of deposed prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz.
In this connection he visited Lodhran and Chishtian towns of southern Punjab and addressed public rallies there, promising people corruption-free Pakistan and pro-farmer policies.
Imran said the corruption remains prevalent in the country mainly because of the dishonest rulers. “If the rulers themselves are corrupt, how could their subordinates be honest?” he asked.
He maintained that there was no difference between Nawaz Sharif and Pakistan People’s Party co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari as their goal was same [looting public money] and they differ only in their methods.
Imran Khan said that despite worse kind of opposition from these corrupt parties, the PTI has no major threat from them. Whatever threat it faces, comes from within the party [in the shape of factionalism], he added.
Khan said their opponents were now in the grip of the Almighty Allah and falling. This was owing to the rising of the conscious of the nation as they were now more aware of what was happening around them.
The people of Pakistan have the political wisdom now and they have understood that the country’s progress is being hampered due to the corruption of its leaders.
PTI chief lamented that political intervention over the years has played havoc with police. How could a Station House Officer (SHO) at a police station and a property registrar be honest when leader of the country are corrupt, Khan rhetorically posed a question to the workers.
He claimed that PTI after winning 2018 general elections would make Punjab Police as efficient as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police. He also commended KP Police for quick response to Friday’s terror attack at a Peshawar university, saying it has set an example for the police of other provinces.
He censured Nawaz Sharif for claiming that PTI has failed in its promise of new Pakistan in KP. “He (Nawaz) did not use a bulletproof shield to address a rally in Abbottabad [owing to improved security situation and better policing in the KP]. This is what new Pakistan has to offer,” Imran said.
He lashed out at Sharif brothers over “unprecedented corruption” and declared them “traitors” like Mir Sadiq and Mir Jaffer. He said that Sharifs are followers of “corruption ideology”, and the former first family of Pakistan laundered at least Rs 300 billion out of Pakistan.
PTI chief alleged Nawaz Sharif of going to any length in conspiring against the judiciary and the army to save him from trouble over corruption cases lodged with accountability courts.
He said that he requests Justice (r) Javed Iqbal, National Accountability Bureau (NAB) chairman, to investigate resident permit held by Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal. IK said that after getting power, PTI will ensure the merit in every walk of life and dispensation of justice to the common man. He also said that disparity in distribution of resources would be ended by PTI.
While pointing out the significance of agriculture sector, he said PTI will devise an agriculture policy which would be genuinely welfare-oriented.
PTI leader Shah Mehmood Qureshi in his address also emphasised the importance of agriculture and said that the main cause of backwardness of the farmer was shortage of water.
Jahangir Tareen said that they were standing with Imran Khan for the elimination of corruption, as corruption was the most serious problem of the country.
Sohail Khan/agencies