close
Thursday March 28, 2024

Word defeat not in our dictionary: Imran

Addresses public meeting in Lahore; terms PML-N ‘stay order party’; asks party workers to foil N-rigging plan; wants security personnel to escort vehicles carrying ballot boxes to RO office

By our correspondents
October 05, 2015
LAHORE: Chairman Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Imran Khan has said the word defeat is not written in the PTI’s dictionary. He said the ‘PTI tigers’ would foil rigging plans of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) in the upcoming NA-122 by-election and no one could save the ‘Stay Order League’ from defeat on October 11.
Addressing a public meeting in connection with the by-election campaign of Aleem Khan at the Doongi Ground in the Samanabad area of Lahore here on Sunday, Imran said it was strange that in the last general elections, almost every MNA of the PML-N bagged nearly 100,000 votes but despite that, it hadn’t been able to hold a public meeting at the Minar-e-Pakistan. He said the PTI, on the other hand, had held three huge gatherings at the Minar-e-Pakistan which showed that people only supported the Tehreek-e-Insaf and the mandate of PML-N was bogus.
He said the PML-N had once again set a plan to rig the polls and the ‘PTI tigers and tigresses’ must get ready to foil this attempt. He demanded that to avoid any rigging, security personnel should also escort the vehicles carrying ballot boxes and for that purpose, the PTI would move the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).
Imran said the PTI volunteers should also keep an eye on the vehicles carrying ballot boxes to the office of returning officer (RO) and all tactics by the PML-N to rig the elections must be foiled.
Imran said Nawaz Sharif was in the habit of playing with his own umpires and whenever he realised defeat, he tried to seek relief through stay orders and that was why the real name of the Nawaz League should be ‘Stay Order League’.
He said elements which rigged the polls deserved punishment in accordance with the law and warned that as long as such corrupt officials were stuck to power, the dream of change couldn’t be materialised.
“The dream of a new Pakistan is linked with changing the existing system, we need a system where justice prevails and it is the only way that honest people can come to power,” said Imran.
He said Pakistan was the only country of the world which was established for an objective and it was the only state which came into existence in the name of religion. It was not for a specific nation or clan.
He said Islam always focuses on ‘Adl’ (justice) and doesn’t discriminate among the rich, the poor, the strong and the weak.
He said the precedent of NA-122 was before the entire nation where 53,000 votes were found bogus as a result of an inquiry and this process took two and a half years. Despite such a heinous crime of stealing the public mandate, none of the responsible was nabbed and the entire nation raised a question how a country where justice was denied to the people could prosper. He said on October 11, the nation wouldn’t come out for Imran, but for their country. He said the officials involved in rigging were still holding offices and once again conducting polls.
Imran also taunted Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman while saying that ‘diesel’ price had once again went up which meant Maulana’s price had also increased.
He added that in the Nawaz era, 70 percent extra amount was charged from the people in electricity bills and it was revealed by the Nepra report, not by him. Imran reminded that Shahbaz Sharif had claimed of ending electricity loadshedding or his name should be changed. He said it was time for the nation to choose a new name for Shahbaz Sharif. He said the Nepra report mentioned that during the next few years, loadshedding could not come to an end and all the fake promises made by the Sharifs had been exposed.
Imran said 65 percent people of Lahore were unable to get clean drinking water whereas Rs70 billion were spent on Metro buses, Rs350 million had been allocated just for maintenance of Jati Umrah, the palace of the Sharif brothers.
He said a poor farmer and a rich person like Nawaz Sharif was paying the same amount of tax on diesel which was a clear precedent of injustice and discrimination adding that it was need of the hour to change the system. He said that most people in Pakistan evaded taxes just because of corruption of rulers as they knew that their tax money would be utilised on the facilities of ruling elite.
He said Mian Nawaz Sharif paid only Rs5,000 tax five years ago and the entire nation had to face the rest of the burden adding it was time to make Pakistan a welfare state and bring a system to bridge the gap between the haves and have-nots, ensure elimination of corruption which was possible only through a transparent mechanism of accountability.
Imran said 180 cases were still pending with the NAB and if those were solved, the country would receive $2,000 billion of the looted money and out of them these 180 cases, as many as 12 were against Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
Even Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar and opposition leader Khursheed Shah’s cases were pending with the NAB adding how the nation could have a transparent system of accountability when all the corrupt elements had joined hands.
He said God shall reward them for their patience and he had a firm faith that the PTI would foil the rigging plan of PML-N and win the by-polls on October 11.
Abdul Aleem Khan, the PTI candidate from NA-122, in his address on the occasion, said former speaker National Assembly Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, who won the poll through rigging, was seen for the first time in his constituency after the last general elections and had no answer to the queries of the local people.
He said the situation of the NA-122 areas was worsening where people were forced to drink unclean water whereas projects like Metro Bus, which could have been run in Rs1 billion, was launched at the huge amount of over Rs60 billion.
Now, he said, the rulers were once again fooling the nation through the Orange Train. He said the hospital constructed in the area of Mian Mir was still not operational just because his nameplate was installed outside it.
He added the rulers should be ashamed of themselves and must not treat the population as their servants.
Abdul Aleem Khan said Pakistan belonged to Imran Khan and on October 11, the people of this constituency would give a clear verdict against the Sharifs.
The public meeting was also attended by PTI central organiser Jehangir Khan Tareen, Chaudhry Sarwar, Reham Khan, the wife of PTI chairman, Sheikh Rasheed, Mian Aslam Iqbal, MPA PP-148, and others.
Reham Khan also addressed a rally of the PTI women activists at Garhi Shahu and left the Doongi Ground during the speech of Imran Khan.