MIRPUR (AJK) - Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chief Imran Khan on Thursday called upon both India and Pakistan to divert their resources for the betterment and uplift of their masses instead of indulging in the arms race.
"Both the countries are spending money on the arms instead of their human beings", Khan said while addressing the first mammoth public meeting of his party at Quaid-e-Azam International Mirpur Cricket Stadium here Thursday evening.
The rally was also addressed by the PTI leaders including former federal minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Azam Khan Swati, Khursheed Mehmood Kasuri as well as Ibrarul Haq and the PTI AJK Chapter chief organiser Mussadiq Khan and others. Besides from various parts of AJK, thousands of party supporters from various adjoining areas of Punjab also attended the party's first ever public meeting in any part of AJK.
"Kashmir is the people of Jammu & Kashmir and the much-delayed issue should be resolved in line with the aspirations of the people of the state", Khan categorically emphasized. He continued that the peaceful settlement of Kashmir conflict according to the wishes of the people of the state would lead to emergence of prosperity and peace in the region including in Pakistan and the Jammu & Kashmir state. He recalled that both India and Pakistan fought wars on Kashmir which bore no fruit. "Gun is not the solution of Kashmir problem", the PTI chief said and declared that after coming to power in Pakistan, the PTI would move for the peaceful resolution of Kashmir issue through talks, as the first priority of his upcoming government.
Imran Khan said that the decades-long constant deployment of over 0.7 million Indian troops in the Held Kashmir were not the solution of the problem. He stated that Kashmir issue could not be held unless India sincerely and sympathetically hear and accept the stance of people of Jammu & Kashmir.
"As America could not resolve Afghanistan issue despite deployment of her (USA) forces in that country since long, New Delhi could not be in a position to settle the Kashmir dispute in presence of such a large number of her military and paramilitary forces in the occupied state", he observed.
Quoting three of the ex federal ministers including two former foreign ministers of the previous regimes and current PTI leader, Imran disclosed that Kashmir issue had reached close to its peaceful solution, but it was later put on the burner because of insincere and unhealthy policy of the incumbent rulers. The PTI chief declared that his party would raise voice for the people of Jammu & Kashmir across the world.
He alleged that at presently the country lacked rule of law because of, what he blamed, the ill-government, irregularities and corruption prevailing in the country. He suggested that the burning Karachi situation could be controlled through the implementation of the rule of law in letter and spirit. He urged for the implementation of the law for the public criminals at par with those being implemented against the common criminals. The PTI chief said that small trader of Karachi was today constrained to quit the city because of the continued deteriorating situation.
Underlining his party's future plan to get the country rid of the prevailing internal and external challenges, Imran asserted that his party would prove winning of the war against terrorism. He stated that 140,000r troops were engaged in Fata in the name of war against terrorism.
He termed that the fight of the war against terrorism was not Pakistan's own war - rather it was the war of America which the security forces were constrained to fight because of the poor policies of the incumbent ruling clique. He pointed out that Pakistan was spending over Rs90 billion per month in the war against terrorism.
The PTI chief said that after coming to power in the forthcoming general elections, the PTI would compel the US to stop drone attacks in the territorial jurisdiction of Pakistan, adding that there attacks were killing innocent people of Fata visi-a-vis causing retaliatory attacks on the security forces.
Imran said that besides ensuring the rule of law in the country, the PTI would introduce single-syllabus-based education system in the country for all classes of society to provide the children of the poor opportunity to serve the country as well.
He said that the transfer of power at the grass-roots level to the masses would be amongst the top priorities of the PTI after coming to power. "It would facilitate the people to decide about their issues on their own at the village level under the spirit of truth and justice", he declared.