ISLAMABAD: PTI Chairman Imran Khan on Sunday said Raiwind was not the personal property of anyone but part of Pakistan and asked his workers to reach there on September 30.
He announced a delay in holding the proposed march on September 24 and said they will hold it on September 30, adding that it will shake the rulers and that it will not stop there.He alleged the prime minister’s daughter was acting like the deputy premier while Hamza Shahbaz was like the deputy CM of Punjab.
The delay, the party sources claimed, is a tactical move. However, it is widely believed Imran has sought more time to sort out internal differences and mobilise workers as much as possible.
It is pertinent that the PTI is going for what it claims a historic march at a time when it faces seething rifts and has an interim structure from top to bottom, which is believed to be unconstitutional.
Many seen around Imran today have been part of Musharraf’s PML-Q; others joined the ruling PML-N.Imran remarked, “We ask Nawaz Sharif, when you purchased these flats worth millions, you must have received documents. Show them to us. But instead of showing us the sale deeds, Nawaz proceeds to cut ribbons for three aircraft on lease from Sri Lanka”.
“Raiwind march will start from across Pakistan; I urge the youth and students to stand up for their rights or they will become slaves,” he made it clear.“They say the people are tired; Pakistanis will only tire when Kaptaan tires out. And Kaptaan is not one to tire out. My last message is to Punjab police — are you Pakistan’s police or slaves to the Sharifs?
As long as they don’t break law...the police won’t bother them. In fact, we will tell them to welcome you,” he told a party convention here of office-bearers, made through notifications.
Already one of Imran’s close aides, Saifullah Niazi (additional secretary general PTI), believed to be a player in holding successful PTI public shows in the past, has resigned.PTI’s youth and women wings are already up against the party’s Secretary General Jehangir Tareen, who has recently dissolved them. However, this move can dent grass-root support for the party and it has been described as unconstitutional.
Imran said had big thieves been arrested, corruption would have come down. He said Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif knew well that if he lost the 2018 elections, he would land in jail for his corruption.He said like 2013 elections, Nawaz would try to buy the next elections as well.
“One man who is a liar, who is deceitful and who lies to the nation and comes into power, what leadership can you expect from him? And those who stand and defend his corruption are those who have vested interests, those who have sold their conscience. Their easiest cop out is to say Imran Khan is desperate to become PM”.
These include some media houses, some journalists. I ask these shameless people...did the people of Iceland who came out want to become the PM? No. These are alive nations who stand alive when anyone threatens their standard of institutions and democracy,” he charged.
He alleged that these people had destroyed the moral standards of the nation by making us believe that corruption was a way of life here.“So again I say we have one route where we stay silent like animals, and wait as they prepare their children for rule. The daughter is acting as the deputy PM and the nephew as the deputy CM.
I feel sad for the reps of N-league, being slaves to them. How shameful is it that Hamza is protecting a killer. A man who killed two people from one family first and then a third. If we stay quiet, these murderers and criminals are our future. So that is a route of absolute destruction for Pakistan,” he noted.
“Today as Pakistanis we have two routes in front of us; one is what the status quo is brainwashing us with...to stay silent. The route where the status quo wants you to be silent in the face of corruption, in the face of injustice and a dacoit PM. And it does not just stop at Nawaz Sharif being the PM, it continues in their children being prepped to rule and loot the nation,” he said.
“We go to the courts; they tell us that our petition on Panama is invalid. The whole world kick-started investigations on this. The whole world knows that these people stand accused of embezzling billions, but when we raise a voice...they blackmail us. They blackmail us in order to silence us. They say you are thieves too? They bring a cancer hospital under their line of attack.”
He pointed out that in the United Kingdom Parliament stood till the PM did not give answers. Iceland made their PM resign because he could not answer. In the West, when leaders lied they were made to resign. Why? Because they know their institutions were so strong.
In the West, Nixon, a US president, was impeached on the basis of phone tapping. This is how strong their laws are. The Brazilian president lied about budget figures in Parliament, and she was impeached. Here they lie daily in Parliament.
“We went to the Election Commission, in front of who the assets were undeclared, but we received no response. This is the same Election Commission that we asked for justice from when we set out for the dharna. The Judicial Commission exposed massive irregularities. But not even one person was punished. We asked for inquiries in 4 constituencies, all revealed rigging. So I have a right as a Pakistani to ask them, why did you not punish even one person? Is this a banana republic?” he wondered.
He claimed that there was a clear cut case of corruption against Nawaz Sharif. “This is on an international level. No doubt remains there. When NS was PM in the 1990s, he made companies in the names of his children and embezzled funds out of Pakistan. I protested outside these apartments myself because as a Pakistani it was my right to ask questions.
So we have a lot of questions from the Election Commission, and we will see on the 28th. Next comes the NAB. They work on taxpayer money. Why do they only nab small thieves but leave these massive criminals?
According to NAB daily corruption is 12 billion rupees a day. Some of the highest levels of indirect taxes are levied on the ordinary people of Pakistan. But our corruption levels surpass the tax collected. Our yearly corruption is more than Rs3,000 billion. So just think, they then in return spend this money on rigging elections. Corruption and rigging go hand in hand. If there is an honest man who wants to serve the country, why will he rig the system?”
“This is a march for the future of Pakistan. Last night I was watching TV and they are trying to scare us with armed goons. I ask them when General Musharraf in 2008 arrested NS....where was this so-called N League force to protect him? They act like “Mein Kalla Ee Kaafi Haan” but when the time came to ‘save’ Nawaz, they were all hiding in their holes,” he charged.
Imran noted, “In 20 years, whenever we hit the streets we always remained peaceful. From the dharna to our rallies now. I politely request their gullus not to try anything funny, because they will get what they deserve. Don’t stand against junoon. On 24th our caravans will begin mobilising. Some will reach Raiwind before 30th; we will organise a place for them and on the 30th you will see the biggest peaceful gathering of people in the history of the country. From here on, it is a test of your ideology”.
“Every person here has to take his own responsibility and show his ideology not for Imran but for Pakistan. Approach the farmers who have been crushed, approach teachers, approach doctors, approach nurses, students, lawyers. Everyone. This is a defining moment; if you do not stand for yourselves now they will destroy you. This is a mafia. They have their slaves sitting in Pemra, PTV, State Bank...across all institutions. They deliberately destroyed your institutions. Today , these institutions stand on trial too to give justice to people of Pakistan,” Imran went on to say.