ATTOCK -  Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan while criticising the advertisement-spree of rulers has said that the Sharif brothers have spent over Rs25 billion from public money on commercials in the last three years and the practice was ongoing unabated.

He said that spending such a huge sum on ‘self-praise and publicity stunt’ campaigns was a sheer waste of public money.

While talking to media persons at the Bahtar residence of former Attock district Nazim Major (retd) Tahir Sadiq, the PTI chief said that different ‘revolutionary steps’ have been taken in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and he believed in ‘practical steps and not in lip services’.

“The billion tree tsunami is our greatest achievement and by the end of this year, the target of planting one billion trees will be achieved,” he said adding that 85 percent of saplings have survived as accepted by the WWF audit team.

“This credit goes to KP Chief Minister Parvez Khattak and Malik Amin Aslam who are looking after this mega project,” Khan said adding that the next target was Punjab where, in the first phase, 10000 saplings will be planted. “This campaign will be launched across the Punjab in coming August,” he said.

The PTI chief said that growing more and more trees was the need of Pakistan, badly affected by global warming and climate change.

While talking about corruption allegations against KP Assembly Speaker Asad Qaisar, Khan said that the NAB has denied it and said that this conspiracy has been hatched by the “mottoo gang”. While talking about an alliance of the PTI with ‘Major Group’ in Attock, the PTI chief said that he held a detailed meeting with Tahir Sadiq and discussed different issues pertaining to local politics and alliance of PTI with the ‘Major Group’. He said that this alliance will prove pivotal in the next general elections and said that “this alliance has paved the way for a clean sweep in Attock district”.

The PTI chief said that he was highly impressed by the vision and politics of Major Tahir and said that in the next general elections the PTI and Major Group will nominate candidates for national and provincial assembly with the consent of each other.

Major Sadiq thanked the PTI chief and praised his policies and strategies. He said that Khan has given courage and a vision for the people regarding their rights. He said that the PTI and the ‘Major Group’ have the same vision and said that this alliance will change the political scenario of the district.

MUHAMMAD SABRIN