PM defends Shehbaz Sharif’s arrest, dubs CM Buzdar as face of change

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan said that some of the faces who are screaming for PML-N president Shehbaz Sharif are worried about their own future.

“I will not spare one of them for their corruption. FIA and IB are under me. What I have seen so far is that some of the people who are standing in solidarity with Shehbaz Sharif, they are actually worried that their turn is about to come. They should have no doubt that if they have done corruption, their turn will come,” Prime Minster Imran Khan told a press conference in Lahore on Sunday.

"If NAB was under Imran Khan, some 50 plus of these people would have been in jail by now.They should be thankful NAB is not under me. But with the FIA and interior ministry under me; even I had no idea how much corruption was being done," he said.

“These cases have been ongoing for months. This was the case when the NAB chief said before elections that we won’t call Shahbaz Sharif in for any questioning before elections. But our own Mr. Mandela; is he above the law? If he is called in for questioning, is it victimisation?”

Taking a jibe at PPP and PML-N, Premier Khan said that  now they were fighting the election together.

"These people blackmail the country. This union of corruption. Zardari and Sharif; I’ve told you it’s always been a farce, the differences!"

"I’m telling NAB again; you need to speed up, you are too slow. We will give you full support.  We are going to be coming up with Whistle Blower and Witness Protection Acts. We will give 20 percent of money, by law, of whatever is recovered from anyone whose corruption you expose," he said.

Khan said PTI government has spoken to the home minister of Britain.

"We’ve already initiated a case along with them. We are following things with the FIA. You will be shocked to discover how much money there is to be recovered.  Imagine if 2 billion can go into the account of a Faluda seller; just imagine the amount of corruption. They steal people’s identity cards, and open accounts in their name. And they take that money, convert it into dollars and take it overseas."

The only way to return loans without inflation is to bring the looted money back, he added. 

PM Khan said that Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar was the face of change.

“He knows how people live in the backward areas of Punjab, how children are dying. He is empathetic to the deprived common man. The real CM; the real Khadim e Aala is Usman Buzdar sitting next to me who lives simply and who feels for his people,” he said.

The premier said Usman Buzdar was accessible and that he meets his MP’s unlike those of the past.

“A lady reached out to me and said that Usman Buzdar solved her problem when she approached him. He is also an honest man. I know that Usman Buzdar will not be involved in corruption,” he said.

Punjab has the largest budget. In the past, Punjab's budget was Rs.8000 billion but just in Lahore the amounts spent were more than that of KP’s entire budget.