Big robbers part of assemblies: Imran

ISLAMABAD: PTI Chairman Imran Khan on Friday said fair and across-the-board accountability cannot be held in the presence of, what he called, big robbers sitting in the assemblies.
Addressing a well-attended public meeting in connection with the Nov 30 local bodies elections in the ICT here at Taramri, he reminded Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif of his promise to the nation that he would bring back Rs6 billion owned by ex-president Asif Ali Zardari from the Swiss banks but he did not do so after coming into power.
“A thief cannot hold accountable another thief. I wonder why Nawaz Sharif has not been caught despite the fact that there are 12 corruption cases against him in the National Accountability Bureau,” said Imran. He alleged that by impeding him from projecting his party’s manifesto, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and the local administration had proved to be the government allies.
He further alleged that while the Islamabad administration had hindered his party’s electioneering, the commission took no action in this connection.He described this policy of the government as the worst form of dictatorship in the guise of democracy and vowed to continue his struggle for the supremacy of the Constitution and democratic rule in Pakistan. He urged the residents of Islamabad to punish the two mainstream political parties for their anti-masses policies, which had plunged the country into a debt trap.
Imran wanted the voters to vote for his party’s candidates in the upcoming local bodies election in the Islamabad Capital Territory, promising to monitor their performance himself so that they selflessly served them.
The PTI chief said criminals dominated every sphere of life in a society where they were not punished.He regretted that a local had been made a member of the federal cabinet so that funds from the national exchequer could be misused for the campaigns of ruling party candidates and for buying votes and influencing voters.
He claimed that his party had alone fought with all the parties of status quo and reiterated his commitment to transform Pakistan into a state as dreamed by Allama Muhammad Iqbal and envisioned by the Father of the Nation Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah.
Imran expressed concern over the government’s decision not to announce a holiday on November 30, the election day, and urged the people to come out on the polling day to vote for “change”.
Meanwhile, PTI Information Secretary Naeemul Haq on Friday condemned what he alleged the double standards of the Election Commission of Pakistan and the local administration towards his party with regard to the local bodies polls.
In reaction to the alleged hurdles during the PTI’s election campaign and Chairman Imran Khan’s public meetings, he vehemently condemned the ‘biased approach’ of the electoral body and asked four Election Commission members to immediately step down.
He said the administration’s bid to create hurdles in the movement of public was highly condemnable and added that on the one hand the ministers and the ruling party MNAs were free to carry out poll-related activities and, on the other hand, the PTI was being stopped from doing so.