DERA ISMAIL KHAN: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan on Monday lashed out at his political opponents, especially the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leaders, saying that those who laundered Rs 300 billion abroad brazenly ask why they were ousted.
“You ask why you were disqualified. I will tell you why. You have more than 300 billion saved outside the country,” Imran said while addressing a rally in Dera Ismail Khan and later speaking at a press conference.
He also criticised PML-N leaders for disrespecting the Supreme Court’s “unanimous decision” against Nawaz. He said that the PML-N was attacking state institutions and weakening democracy.
He said that Fazlur Rehman called him part of the Jewish conspiracy while Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif in the US said Imran Khan was more religious. “Jews don’t need to indulge in conspiracies against Pakistan as long as people like Nawaz Sharif and Fazlur Rehman are present,” he said.
“If the thieves keep on getting protection, our only other democratic option is to come out on the roads,” he remarked. He asked former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif how and when the money was sent abroad. “All proofs submitted by the Sharif family have turned out to be fake. From their trust deed to the Qatari letter… all were fake,” he claimed.
He also accused the Sharif family of owning 29 “big houses” in London, adding that the one who used to sale cinema tickets in black now possessed 100,000 acres of land and 19 sugar mills.
Speaking about the issue surrounding the appointment of the new National Accountability Bureau chairman, he said, “We were not consulted over the issue.”
“We will evaluate the performance of new chairman Justice (r) Javed Iqbal. The nation is hoping for accountability.” He said that if there was ‘VIP accountability’, what message would it give to the prisoners? Narrating how only the poor suffer under the law, Imran said that he did not come across one “major personality” when he was in jail for eight days, but realised the whole parliament was filled with “robbers” once when he was attending a session. “In the future, accountability director general in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa will be selected by the Peshawar High Court,” he added.
Bashing the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) co-chairman, Imran Khan said that Uzair Baloch confessed to have handed over 13 sugar mills to Asif Ali Zardari.
He said that dacoits were all around him, adding that had the system run on merit, Nawaz Sharif’s daughter Maryam Nawaz would not have considered herself fit enough to join politics.
Imran also discussed the unavailability of sewerage system in Pakistan and gave examples of KP local bodies system where a lot of improvement had been brought about. He vowed to fight dengue in the PTI-led province and stressed that they had devised a plan to stop the spread of the disease, unlike the Punjab government.
The PTI chief lauded the efforts of the KP government in improving the situation of health, education and governance in the province. “People of Karachi and Lahore also desire for police reforms like in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,” he claimed.
Published in Daily Times, October 11th 2017.
