Imran Khan kicks off election 2018 campaign

MIANWALI: PTI chairman Imran Khan has kick started his party's campaign for the general elections 2018 from his hometown of Mianwali.

Addressing a gathering of supporters here on Sunday, Imran Khan said that he chose Mianwali to start his election campaign because he had started his political career from this city.

He said that both the PPP and PML-N had awarded ticket to their relatives. 

“My relatives were asking for ticket in Mianwali. I was under immense pressure but I did not budge,” he said ."We have given tickets on merit." 

Khan lashed out at former interior minister Ahsan Iqbal for calling PTI an inexperienced party. “The Sharif government has left Pakistan in a financial debacle due to the massive borrowing. Is it the experience Ahsan Iqbal is boasting about?,” he said.

“In 2013, Pakistan’s foreign debt stood at USD13 billion which had increased to 27, 000 billion rupees in the next five year,” he said. 

He said that children of Nawaz Sharif, Shehbaz Sharif and Ishaq Dar have become billionaires without doing anything in their life. 

The PTI chief accused the Sharif family of spending Rs40 billion on advertisements to hide their corruption. 

Khan said that Nawaz Sharif had failed to produce money trail of his properties in London. "Instead of giving the money trail, Nawaz Sharif launched 'mujhe kyun' nikala," he said. 

"We are now trying to oust you, Mian saheb, we're trying to put you in jail," he added. 

AFP adds

The cricket star-turned-politician kicked off his election campaign by staging a major rally and promising sweeping changes in the country if his party wins.

Pakistan will hold a general election on July 25 and Khan is hoping to achieve a years-long dream of becoming prime minister.

The polls will bring to a head political tensions that have been mounting since former prime minister Nawaz Sharif was ousted by the Supreme Court on corruption charges last July and later barred from politics for life.

"Today I am launching my election campaign and weeks after, you will see emergence of a new Pakistan," Khan told a rally of thousands of people in his native Mianwali constituency, more than 200 kilometres (120 miles) southwest of Islamabad.

Khan said that if elected, he will root out corruption by strengthening institutions, will bring investment from abroad and will provide better job opportunities for young people.

He also promised changes in the agriculture and education sectors and wide-ranging reforms to introduce a culture of paying tax.

"With the grace of God, we will make a new Pakistan which will be self-sufficient and will stand on its own feet, will prosper and where government will serve its people," Khan said.

Sharif was the 15th prime minister in Pakistan´s seven-decade history to be ousted before finishing a full term.

The country witnessed its first democratic transfer of power following polls in 2013, which Sharif´s Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) won in a landslide.

The upcoming elections are expected to pit the PML-N against its main rival, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party led by Imran Khan.

Despite the numerous court rulings against the PML-N, the party has won a string of recent by-elections proving it will likely remain a powerful force.