Politics of the gun in the name of Mohajirs hurt Karachi: Imran

KARACHI: The Chairman of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Imran Khan, on Sunday said that the port city had suffered a lot due to the politics of violence and the gun in the name of Mohajirs.
He called upon the people of the city of Quaid to vote for the PTI to bring about a real change in the country. He said that the assemblies were packed with jackals.He said that his dream of a Naya Pakistan would come true only after a Naya Karachi emerged and that could only be possible if the people of Karachi would vote in favour of the PTI, which stood for progress and prosperity.
Imran Khan was addressing a huge gathering on Sunday night at the Shahrah-e-Pakistan in connection with the NA-246 by-election campaign. He requested the people of Karachi to come out and vote for Imran Ismail. He specially appealed to women to step out of their homes for a better Karachi and better Pakistan.
The PTI rally was marred by poor arrangements especially with regard to lighting, as all the streetlights suddenly went off. Interestingly, the generator system that was arranged by the party itself too broke down. This delayed Imran’s speech and people sitting on chairs started leaving the venue without listening to their leader. Even the chairs were also removed from the area where the sound system did not function.
The podium where the PTI leadership was sitting plunged into darkness as soon as Khan stepped onto the stage. Many of its leaders wasted no time in accusing the Muttahida Qaumi Movement and the government of Sindh of disturbing the much-hyped rally.
Imran explained that he came to Karachi not for grabbing only one seat as it did not make any difference but his only purpose to visit Karachi was to eliminate fear from this city, which was once called the city of lights. He said that importance of Karachi in the creation of country could not be ignored.
The people would see a Naya Karachi on April 23 as he predicted 2015 as the election year. He said the nation achieved a massive success in the 126-day Dharna and it was for the first time that the Judicial Commission was formed. “When its report will be made public, the people will see a change in the country and PTI would come into power and emerge as a strong force in the country.”
He also referred to Nabil Gabol’s startling disclosure that polling booths were vacant and he received 140,000 votes. He asked when the Rangers will be deployed in and outside the polling stations, then how many votes will they grab?
Imran said this was the city which gave birth to a highly educated class and was full of potential as Quaid-i-Azam was born here. But until 1985, the city was a paradise but as ethnicity entered politics, its progress was diminished and people started migrating to Bangladesh and Malaysia.
He said since the politics in the name of Mohajir started, Karachi’s situation deteriorated. Khan said that those who migrated from India progressed rapidly and the top level people, including bureaucrats, intellectuals and politicians, were Mohajirs.
He said that every political movement started from Karachi. He said the people used to come here for employment and education but asked all of a sudden what went wrong that people started shifting from this city. The investors rolled back their money to foreign countries and the city which gave birth to people with high potential started producing criminals, he said.
“It is surprising that the leader of a political party has been residing abroad for the last 23 years while the entire community is here. Never in the world has this happened, tell me any example of such kind,” he said.
“Mistakenly, I listened to the speech of Altaf Hussain and wondered how the intellectual class of Karachi tolerates such nonsense attitude of a leader who sometimes, weeps, laughs and then starts singing,” he said.He also did not spare Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and criticised him saying that it was for the third time that he became the prime minister but how many times he had visited Karachi.
He said that peace in Karachi could not prevail without purging the political parties of their militant wings and true representatives of Karachi were elevated to parliament. “Now it is a defining moment for the people of Karachi to lay down the foundation of a new Pakistan,” he said.
He said that he returned to parliament as he was afraid like 11 years before, Pakistan would be pushed to another war.He also thanked the Muttahida Wahdatul Muslimeen for its support and at the same time he appealed to all the communities naming the Ismailis, Memons and Urdu speaking to come out of their houses on the polling day and decide the future of the city so that they could jointly build a new Pakistan.
He congratulated Imran Ismail in advance and appreciated his courage for confronting the oppressive forces even after he was attacked and was ready to fight these evil forces, he said.The election rally was earlier to be held at the Jinnah Ground, a bastion of MQM, but was changed after Khan said that the ground was not enough for his supporters.
Earlier, Imran Ismail, the PTI candidate from NA 246, said that he was not afraid of the MQM and would go to every nook and corner. He criticised MQM candidate Kunwar Naveed for plundering the wealth of the country and said he was declared a fugitive.
He asked what did the MQM give to its community in the last 30 years, the period in which it had been in power. He promised to give back the city its past glory and future to the youth.PTI’s Vice President Shah Mehmood Qureshi foresaw a change in the city as Karachiites had woken up from deep slumber. He said that they would snatch the rights for the true people of Karachi from the oppressors.
Imran Khan at the end of the rally directly drove to the airport but had to change his plan as his flight was cancelled and would now leave the city on Monday morning.
Meanwhile, Imran Khan along with his wife Reham Khan visited the residence of PTI leader Faisal Vawda for having lunch. Earlier, Imran Khan arrived at the residence of renowned businessman Aqeel Karim Dhedi where he said that let Karachi people decide who they wanted to win in NA-246 by-election.
He said that he listened to entire speech of Altaf Hussain. He said, “I commend Karachiites for their stamina to listen to his complete address.”In a veiled sarcasm, Imran termed Mr Hussain’s speech ‘outstanding’ and said MQM chief’s speech whet his appetite.
Imran said that he had acquired land in Karachi for establishing third branch of Shaukat Khanum Hospital.To a question about Karachi by-polls, Khan said the result would be known after the ‘match’. The people of Karachi had to take their decision now, he added.
In a mild tone, PTI chief said Altaf Hussain had become aware of the result even before the match. “It happens in a match fixing when the results are known beforehand.”Khan reiterated that 2015 would be the year of general elections. He praised trader Aqeel Karim Dhedhi for his assistance in social welfare projects.
Khan said that Altaf Hussain had uttered an interesting speech at Jinnah Ground however if he knew who would win, it would surely be a fixed election.Moreover, he further urged the people of Karachi to raise their voice against violence. Imran Khan said that time had come for the people of Karachi to decide their fate by voting their favorite party in the by-election.
He expressed satisfaction with Rangers deployment, saying that Rangers’ presence inside and outside polling stations would make a difference.“If cameras are installed in polling stations, transparency could be expected”, he asserted.
Imran Khan and Reham Khan were invited to breakfast at the residence of Aqeel Karim. The PTI chief also addressed the donors of NAMAL on this occasion.He termed NAMAL University his obsession and added that he wanted to play his role in giving higher education to poverty-stricken people.