Nawaz can’t become Mandela: Imran

ABBOTTABAD/HARIPUR: Chairman Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Imran Khan said on Sunday Nawaz Sharif could not become a Nelson Mandela as the latter had rendered unprecedented sacrifices for his people. "I advise Nawaz Sharif not to try to become Nelson Mandela," he remarked.

He said that Nawaz Sharif must face accountability. He expressed these views while reacting to the reports about the return of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam from the United Kingdom to Pakistan on Friday.

The PTI chief said Nawaz Sharif had been convicted for plundering the national wealth.

Imran Khan said whenever Nawaz was asked about his assets, he raised hue and cry by saying that democracy was in danger. He said that the people were now mature and they would now hold the corrupt accountable through the power of their vote.

The PTI chief added that in the past, the Sharif brothers appointed their near and dear ones to head the government departments and these people were equally responsible for plundering the national wealth.

Imran Khan said, “Captain Safdar is courting arrest as if he has conquered Kashmir." Imran said that Safdar had been convicted on corruption charges.

He said that his party would restore the dignity and pride of bureaucracy if it was voted to power.

He was addressing a public meeting at the Government College Ground in Abbottabad in connection with the election campaign.

The PTI chief claimed that the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leadership had weakened the bureaucracy for its vested interest.

Imran Khan said that the PML-N chief Shahbaz Sharif and his team considered government officials as their servants. He claimed that the previous PTI-led government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) ensured fair distribution of power to bureaucracy.

Criticising Pakistan People's Party (PPP) Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari and Nawaz Sharif for their role in drafting the Charter of Democracy, he said the two parties had joined hands to rob the country. However, he warned that the PTI would not allow them to loot the public exchequer.

Imran Khan said the PTI believed in strengthening state institutions. He assured the crowd that his party's government would uphold merit and professionalism in the government departments.

"We will bring all departments under one umbrella. We have four provinces and different organisational structures but they are not united. We will bring them all under one roof for the revival of Pakistan's economy," he added. He said that corruption was the major issue the country was facing and, therefore, no effort would be spared to fight this menace.

Lashing out at Shahbaz Sharif for his recent press conference where he had said that they would not accept the decision of the court, he said that in the past, the PML-N leaders tried to influence the courts to take decisions in their favour, but now the judiciary was making decisions on merit.

Earlier, addressing the party workers and supporters in Haripur, Imran Khan said the nations depending on foreign loans could not earn respect in the comity of nations. He said that the challenges Pakistan was facing right now were the result of corruption-based policies of the two parties that ruled the country over the last 10 years.

The PTI chief said US President Donald Trump was threatening Pakistan even though it lost more than $110 billion and over 70,000 citizens during the war against terror. "He [Trump] has no respect for a country whose government asks his country [US] for loan," he said, adding that his government would adopt austerity measures to end dependence on foreign aid.

About his austerity plan, Imran Khan said he would slash millions of expenses incurred on the Governor's House, Chief Minister's House and Prime Minister's House and spend the money on the welfare of the people.

Talking about commercialising the government rest houses in KP, he said that he would replicate the same model across the country.

He believed the PTI was the only party that had the vision to pull the country out of the prevailing crises that were the result of corruption-oriented policies of PPP and PML-N governments.

Imran Khan said if the PTI was voted to power, he would strengthen the Federal Board of Revenue, Federal Investigation Agency and National Accountability Bureau to bring an end to corrupt practices in the country.

He said that after coming into power, reforms would be introduced across the country in the health, education and police to correct the system on the pattern of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The PTI chief claimed he would revive the Telephone Industries of Pakistan in Haripur and make it a profit-earning unit again.