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Thursday March 28, 2024

Imminent verdict panics Sharifs: Imran

By Faizan Bangash
April 02, 2018

LAHORE: Predicting an end to the ‘mafia’ ruling the country, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan has said his party will safeguard the rights of all people, including minorities, after coming to power.

Addressing the party activists at different camps, set up by the PTI in connection with its ongoing membership campaign, Imran Khan said here on Sunday the Sharifs were not politicians but a mafia that had been ruling the country for the last three decades. However, he added, their days had been numbered now, and that was why they had been panicked in the wake of an imminent apex court verdict against them.

During the second day of the membership drive, Imran Khan addressed public gatherings at Youhanabad, Akbar Chowk, Thokar Niaz Baig, Cantt and other places in Lahore. At Youhanabad, the PTI chairman greeted the Christian community on Easter and cut a cake in this regard. He was greeted by a charged crowd at Youhanabad, where local PTI leaders Mansha Sandhu and MPA Shenila Ruth received him.

Imran Khan said that on April 29 at Minar-e-Pakistan, he would reply to Nawaz Sharif’s rhetoric of ‘Mujhay Kyun Nikala’. He said the PTI would protect people from the clutches of a ‘godfather’ and a ‘don’.

Terming Punjab chief minister a don, the PTI chairman said the rulers had turned Punjab Police into their personal force. He said the ‘Don of Punjab’ was often seen staging dramas on different occasions, sometimes while wearing caps and sometimes while wearing long shoes. He said for his own medical check-up, Shahbaz Sharif went to England, but in Punjab, hospitals were facing severe bed shortages. Imran said that the Sharifs become most brutal when they were in power and become coward when they were out of power.

Expressing support to minorities, Imran said the PTI would ensure their rights without any discrimination.

Imran Khan lauded MPA Shenila Ruth for bravely criticising the rulers in the Punjab Assembly and also praised former MPA Mansha Sandhu for standing firm against the ruling mafia.

At the Akbar Chowk in Township area, the PTI chairman slammed Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi for allegedly bringing disrespect to the country during his visit to the US. Citing a recent incident in which the elected PM of Pakistan was frisked by the US authorities at an airport, Imran said there was a time when Pakistani president was received by none other than the US president. He said the way Pakistani PM was treated in the US was highly embarrassing for the nation.

The PTI chairman said Tehreek-e-Insaf would recover the looted money from the Sharifs, who had made billions in the development projects like the Metro Bus and Orange Line Train. He alleged that the PM was involved in the LNG scam.

The PTI chairman was flanked by Central Punjab President Abdul Aleem Khan, Ejaz Chaudhry and Dr Shahid Siddique Khan. He took an oath of allegiance from the supporters.

Talking to a group of reporters, Imran Khan said here on Sunday his party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf would form an anti-PPP alliance in Sindh in the upcoming general elections.

Regarding Punjab, he said the PTI would not become a part of any election alliance and field strong candidates on its own. He said the party would also move the court against the misuse of development funds.

He said the Election 2018 would change the fate of the nation. Imran Khan said Nawaz was able to address a public gathering in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa just because of its police, whose working had improved under the PTI government.

On the other hand, Imran said the Punjab government while changing the police uniform had given it the look of a postman. He said Nawaz had no vision to see the change in KP and advised him to visit hospitals, schools or the province, adding it was the PTI which changed the situation of a terrorism-hit KP. Imran Khan said 1,200 policemen lost their lives in terrorist attacks in KP and only because of the KP Police, Nawaz was able to address a public rally in Swat.

He said the PTI had brought about a change in KP, but Shahbaz Sharif destroyed the beauty of Lahore and 70pc of its trees had been cut in the name of Metro Bus and Orange Line Train projects. These projects, he said, were not meant to give any relief to the nation but to mint commission.

He said Nawaz, Shahbaz and Kulsoom go to the UK for medical treatment whereas their ‘accountant’ Ishaq Dar was also undergoing check-up outside the country. He accused the Sharifs of attacking institutions like the army, Supreme Court and National Accountability Bureau (NAB).

Imran said Ishaq Dar had been involved in the scam of billions of rupees, Ahsan Iqbal’s brother received contract of billions, Khwaja Asif was drawing a salary from a foreign country. He said the PTI would nab all the corrupt elements after coming to power. He predicted victory of the PTI in the 2018 polls and invited the nation to attend the April 29 public meeting at Minar-e-Pakistan.