Talks will be held only in Islamabad now: Imran

PESHAWAR: The Chairman of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Imran Khan, on Friday said the government was now talking about holding talks but now the talks will be held only in Islamabad.

Urging the party workers to attend the protest sit-in in Islamabad, Imran Khan said he would not rest until Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif stepped down and offered himself for accountability. Addressing a workers convention in the Matani village on the outskirts of the provincial capital, he said that the upcoming protest in the federal capital on November 2 would be a decisive day for the future of Pakistan.

In his opening salvo, Imran Khan said, “After November 2, Nawaz Sharif, (former president) Asif Ali Zardari, (Awami National Party head) Asfandyar Wali and (Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl chief) Maulana Fazlur Rehman will be in one camp, while Imran Khan will lead the Pakistanis to make the Naya Pakistan.”

The PTI chief said the people of Pakistan would gather under the banner of PTI while Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Asif Ali Zardari, Asfandyar Wali Khan and Maulana Fazlur Rehman would be in the opposite camp. He said that a country couldn’t prosper if its leadership was corrupt. He promised that he would make Pakistan a place where everybody got his or her due rights without any discrimination.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Pervaiz Khattak, provincial ministers Shah Farman, Atif Khan and others were present on the occasion.Imran said they would make Pakistan a great country by following the teachings of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him), which would be based on justice, morality and honesty. He said the prime minister had been named in the Panama Papers, so he should step down and offer himself for accountability instead of hampering the efforts to probe the matter. “When a ruler becomes corrupt, he loses the moral authority to hold others accountable,” he maintained.

The PTI chief urged the youth to ensure participation in the November 2 sit-in to put pressure on the federal government to investigate the PanamaLeaks.Tight security arrangements were put in place for the event that was held in Matani, which in the past has seen a number of terrorist attacks.

Speaking on the occasion, Pervaiz Khattak said the nerve-wracking movement had been launched to force the corrupt rulers to resign.“We are going to participate in the sit-in with full preparation, which would be a decisive movement for Pakistan,” the chief minister said. He said that the struggle was for the elimination of corruption and irregularities. He said the PTI would besiege the corrupt rulers with the help of masses.

“We are going to hold the rulers accountable,” he said while issuing an ultimatum to the prime minister and his aides. He said that corruption was the fundamental source of all evils in the society which causes poverty and backwardness. He said the struggle was constructive, which would make the corrupt politicians suffer for their misdeeds.

“The people have stood up for their rights and they are determined to defeat the corrupt elite,” he said. Mumtaz Alvi adds from Islamabad: Imran Khan in a brief chat with media persons in Islamabad before leaving for Peshawar said that the Attorney General of Pakistan (AGP) should not appear for Nawaz Sharif in the Supreme Court to defend him in disqualification petitions.

“The prime minister should hire a private lawyer, as there is no justification in his spending the money earned by the masses through dint of their sweat and blood in his personal capacity,” he emphasised, adding that the attorney general should not fight the cases of the Sharif family to hide their corruption.

Referring to the appearance of his (Nawaz) children’s names in the Panama Papers, the PTI chairman contended that still there was time for the prime minister to present himself for accountability. He maintained that his party tried for seven months to compel the prime minister to give answers to questions regarding the PanamaLeaks but his ministers did not let it happen.

Instead, he pointed out that an impression was given as if the military was behind the PTI’s planned November 02 protest in the federal capital.“The rulers are undermining the army to save themselves from accountability,” Imran lamented.He went on to allege that the prime minister was destroying the state institutions to hide his corruption.

Regarding the success of the protest in Islamabad, Imran claimed that there would be a sea of people on that day, challenging the government to erect whatever obstacles it wanted to.On this occasion, he demanded that the names of those behind the leakage of the meeting on security issues be revealed.