Imran asks Nawaz to face accountability

Says no mega corruption cases in KP; inaugurates Swat Motorway

BATKHELA/CHAKDARRA: Presenting himself for accountability, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan on Thursday asked Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to face accountability over the Panama Leaks and defend the offshore holdings.

Addressing a public gathering after the inauguration ceremony of development works on Swat Motorway in Thana in Malakanad Agency and Chakddara, Imran said that they would not stop chasing the primer and his family until he presented himself for accountability.

“Hold us accountable. I am not named in the Panama Leaks but still I am ready to face accountability,” said Imran Khan. He added that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was afraid of the terms of reference (ToRs) proposed by the opposition parties and wanted his accountability on his own terms. “Nawaz Sharif could not legislate against corruption because he is ‘corrupt’ and would trap in this net,” he added.

He said if a head of a state was corrupt, how it was possible for his cabinet members, advisors and other associates to be clean and honest.The PTI chief maintained that corruption was like cancer and licks a state and its institutions like termites. He said the PTI would hold Nawaz Sharif accountable and bring back the capital he siphoned abroad.

Imran said that he had pledged to eliminate corruption in first 90 days if PTI was voted to power. “We honoured our commitment and eliminated corruption at the higher level. There is still corruption at the low level and we would eliminate it as well,” he added.

Imran Khan challenged the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) to name a single mega corruption case in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Imran said that the moto gang of Maryam Nawaz was busy in maligning the opponents and levelled allegations against them.

He said that the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government had introduced an exemplary accountability act. “Corruption can be eliminated from the whole country if other provinces introduced KP like accountability laws,” he added.

He said that the KP government was introducing another bill under which whistle-blowers, who point out corruption in a department, would be given 30 percent of the money recovered from the corrupt person.

The PTI chief said that change come through education and no country could make progress without promoting this sector. He added that the education system in the country had been outdated but lamented that this sector was not the priority of the federal government.

“The government is enchanted by metro bus and roads construction projects. The rulers have no time for promotion and improvement of standard of education,” he added.

He went on to add that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government had improved the education system in the province and true change had been brought inside schools. The PTI chief claimed that the parents had started enrolling their children in state-run schools. “Around 34,000 students have been enrolled in the state-run schools after quitting private schools in the last three years,” he claimed.

He said that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government depoliticised the Police Department. He said that there was no political prisoner in the province, adding the police in Punjab was politicised. He said the Punjab police had filed several cases against him on the government’s behalf.

“The people of other provinces consider Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police as role model,” he added.

Without naming the previous Awami National Party (ANP)-led government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, he said the days of ‘easyload’ were gone and merit was being upheld in recruitments in the government departments in the province.

He said that fresh appointments in the province were being carried out through National Testing Service to ensure merit. The health delivery system in the country was in a shambles, he said, adding that the KP government had streamlined and improved health delivery system in the province.

The PTI chief said spending funds on people was the mission of PTI, adding, that an exceptional local government system was introduced in KP. Imran said that more than one billion sapling were being planted in the province to increase number of trees in the province to make the environment healthy.

He asked the PTI activists to join him in protest against Nawaz Sharif on September 3 in Lahore.“We will compel Nawaz Sharif to tell the nation the truth about the Panama Leaks revelations,” he added.

About the motorway project, Imran Khan said it would usher in a new era of prosperity in the region and promote tourism. “We will take more initiatives to boost tourism in KP,” the PTI chief added.