LAHORE: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan Saturday said he would give an adequate reply to ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s rhetoric ‘Mujhe Kyon Nikala’ during his party’s public meeting at Minar-e-Pakistan on April 29.
Addressing a press conference at Chairman’s Secretariat after reaching Lahore on a two-day membership drive, he vowed to rid the country of corrupt politicians and corruption after winning the elections in 2018.
“A Madina-like welfare state will be established in the country after winning the general election this year,” the PTI chief pledged. He reiterated that he would never make an alliance with the corrupt people like Nawaz Sharif and Asif Zardari and continue his struggle to rid the country of corrupt mafia and change the system of governance, being practised by the corrupt ruling elite for the last 70 years. Imran lashed out at rival Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz as he drew attention to the provincial budget allocations. He claimed that 55 per cent of Punjab’s budget had been spent on the provincial capital alone. “This amount is three times that of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa budget,” he said.
Imran said Shahbaz Sharif publicised himself as ‘Shahbaz Speed’ but he spent entire budget on roads and bridges in Lahore, depriving the rest of the province of its rights. He said Shahbaz spent Rs635 billion in Lahore during the last year, while people were deprived of basic necessities like health, education, water, sanitation etc. Women delivered babies on roads, people died without medical aid and food, he added.
He said the people of Multan never needed the Metro Bus in the first place. “Even after spending Rs60 billion on Multan’s Metro project, the buses are running empty,” he claimed, and called on the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to “once again probe the Multan Metro project.”
He alleged that Faisal Subhan was front man of Sharifs who received money in Dubai for contracts, which were awarded on exorbitant rates to get kickbacks. He named Habib Construction Company as the one which was backed by Sharifs and was awarded over invoiced contracts for obvious reasons.
He said the amount spent by KP government on similar projects was one third of what Shahbaz spent in Punjab.
Khan asked why Ishaq Dar and Nawaz Sharif’s wife Begum Kulsoom had to go abroad for medical treatment. “Shahbaz Sharif failed to build a single hospital during his tenure where the minister or Begum Kulsoom Nawaz could get treatment,” he said, drawing comparison to Shaukat Khanum Hospital. “It is the best hospital [in Pakistan]. I received medical care there twice.”
Imran Khan asked Shahbaz Sharif, who is currently in London, to return home as the people of Punjab wanted to hold him accountable for his misuse of the public money.
The PTI chief vowed to continue “informing the public about the ruling party’s corruption.” Referring to Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi’s remarks about the Senate polls, Imran Khan said it was common knowledge that “money works” in the polls.
“I have been saying this: money works in [Senate] polls. Did they not know this before? Now that they have lost, they are [crying] that the elections [were bought].”
Earlier, Imran made whirlwind tour of six membership camps set up across the city, along with a motorcade of charged and slogan-chanting workers.
Earlier, Imran Khan was brought straight from airport to Liberty Chowk membership camp, run by PTI women wing. He was greeted by PTI Women Wing President Munazza Hasan, while Shireen Mazari, Musarrat Jamshed Cheema, Robina Jameel, Shahnaz Khan, Farhat Qadri, Aisha Khalid, Sobia Kamal, Robina Shaheen, Yasmeen Naeem, Dr Javeria, Nilofar Habib, Shabnam Jahangir and others were present on the occasion. From there, he went to the residence of PTI leader Ijaz Chaudhry at Model Town to congratulate him on his son’s wedding.
Then he went to Yateem Khana camp where Wajid Azeem and others welcomed him. Addressing there, Imran Khan said Sharif family had been ruling the country for over three decades, pushing every child of the nation under debt of Rs3 million, while their children had become billionaires. He asked the people to make April 29 public meeting a success to prove that Lahore belonged to PTI and not Nawaz Sharif.
At Sabzazar camp, Imran was greeted by Mian Aslam Iqbal, Mehar Wajid Azeem, Hamamd Azhar and Irshad Dogar. Imran asked the workers to hold Shahbaz Sharif accountable in 2018 polls for the money spent during the last 35 years. Later, Imran went to Saggian Chowk camp, where he said the youth of Pakistan was the ray of hope for the nation, and they must not disappoint the nation. At the Shahdara camp, Chaudhry Sarwar and his team welcomed Imran. He said new Pakistan meant Islamic welfare state where nobody would be deprived of his basic rights.
In the end, he reached Jallo Mor camp where Ijaz Diyal, Naved Diyal and others welcomed him.
During his visits to the membership camps spanning over seven hours, the traffic around the places where the PTI membership camps had been set up, came to a halt before and after his visits. The police had blocked major roads to allow his motorcade to pass.
When the Imran Khan’s motorcade was passing through Ring Road, a motorcyclist was hit to death by a vehicle near Mahmood Booti. The motorcade was going to Shahdara from Sabzazar after inaugurating a membership camp there. However, the motorcade did not stop to help the 25-year-old Adnan Nazir, a resident of Rachna Town, Ferozewala, and shift him to any hospital. Later on, the local shifted the body to an area hospital.
Due to Imran Khan’s visits across city, people returning from offices, factories and markets had to remain stuck in traffic jams.
Senior PTI leaders including Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Chief Minister Pervaiz Khattak, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Jahangir Tarin, Fawad Chaudhry, Chaudhry Sarwar, Aleem Khan, Shafqat Mehmood and Faisal Javed were prominent among those accompanying Imran Khan.
“If I was attacked during the membership drive in Lahore, the one who is irked the most from this drive should be held responsible,” Imran said. He said Prime Minister Abbasi was working on a single-point agenda of achieving some concessions, or NRO (national reconciliation order) for ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif. He alleged that prime minister was involved in LNG corruption case.