Oath from ‘corrupt’ Zardari no way, says Imran

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan said on Tuesday that he would not take oath from a corrupt president in case he is voted out as the prime minister.Addressing a press conference that was actually held to announce seat adjustment with Nawab of Bahawalpur Salahuddin Abbasi who was also present there, Imran asserted that he would not take oath from President Asif Ali Zardari if voted as the prime minister, claiming that Zardari was a creation of NRO which was unconstitutional and the Constitution did not allow him to take oath from a person of a criminal background.He also said that PTI and Bahawalpur Awami National Party (BANP) led by Nawab of Bahawalpur Salahuddin Abbasi had agreed to forge electoral alliance as both the parties were opposed to the status-quo and no one could raise finger at the leadership of both parties.PTI leaders Makhdoom Javed Hashmi, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Jahangir Khan Tareen, Naeem-ul-Haq, Malik Amin Aslam, Faisal Javed Khan and BNAP leader Farooq Azam Malik were also present on the occasion. Address the reporters, Nawab Salahuddin said that he and Imran Khan were pursuing the same agenda for change and their fight was against the status quo forces and that was the reason for which they were joining hands.He said that all state institutions were on the verge of collapse and only Imran Khan was a leader who could steer the country out of the prevailing crises.Imran Khan said that PTI and Jamat-e-Islami (JI) were yet to finalise a seat adjustment formula, however, he disclosed that the JI leadership had been conveyed that it would have to choose either PTI or PML-N for seat adjustment.The PTI chairman said that he thanked Nawaz Sharif for cleansing his party from corrupt and crook politicians, vowing that all the political forces must keep in mind that after the party polls, the PTI had turned into a robust political force, which would sweep away all corrupt forces in general elections.Imran made it clear that the PTI would prefer to leave the seats vacant rather than allocating party tickets to candidates with tainted past, adding that the PTI had become the party of ideological people."The PTI would announce its political manifesto within two or three days in which each and every issue has been addressed," he mentioned.On new provinces, Imran said that the PTI did not believe in making false promises just to win election like other parties, which were fooling the masses by making flowery slogans, adding that political parties remained in power for the last five years but did nothing for the people."The new provinces issue is a tricky one. In principal, we believe that small federating units should be formed as is the case with rest of the world. It helps keeping better management and better governance. However, we want to resolve the matter properly and not by taking it up as election slogan as there are issues like water and resources distribution, allocation of seats of Senate and other related issues," Khan added. Imran Khan said that restoration of 'Bahawalpur State' was a separate issue and currently he could not talk about that issue. Referring to Maulana Fazlur Rehman, Imran Khan said that he had enjoyed the coalition government of Zardari and company for three years and when the government was about to complete its tenure, he jumped out of the ship and joined hands with Nawaz Sharif."He also opposed my repeated demands of holding talks with the Taliban. But when only two weeks were remaining for elections, he convened All Parties Conference (APC) to mock the much thorny issue of war on terror." Imran Khan predicted that a tough match was ahead on May 11 in which the spirited and passionate workers of the PTI would win over their opponents."The world has seen the spirit and enthusiasm of the PTI workers in impressive gathering in Lahore, as they remained steadfast despite heavy downpour," he observed, adding that a greater tsunami would now reach Mingora and other parts of the country.     On electoral alliance with Dr Tahir-ul-Qadri-led party Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT), Imran Khan said that Dr Qadri wanted a change by staging sit-ins, while the PTI was of firm belief that a change could only take place through ballots, hoping that the upcoming election would bring a real change in the country.Khan also said that some status quo forces were claiming that tsunami was dying down with the retirement of General (Retd) Pasha.  "The PTI's March 23 mammoth gathering was bigger than that held on October 30, 2011. The real tsunami will be witnessed in Mingora and other parts of Pakistan," he added.Imran Khan said he request to caretaker Prime Minister Mir Hazar Khan Khoso to ensure fair, free and transparent elections, otherwise no one would be spared of public wrath. He said that the PTI strongly believed in the integrity of Chief Election Commissioner Fakhruddin G Ebrahim.

ePaper - Nawaiwaqt