Nawaz knocked down, now it is Zardari’s turn: Imran

SEHWAN: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan, while addressing a rally here on Sunday, launched a fresh series of verbal assaults against political opponents, Nawaz Sharif and Asif Ali Zardari, reported Geo News.

He said the PTI had knocked down Nawaz Sharif and now it was Zardari’s turn. He claimed that Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz President Nawaz Sharif was deceiving the people. Lashing out at Nawaz and Zardari, Imran said that they had relied on a fake development narrative to dupe the people.

Zardari duped the people using the slogan of 'roti, kapra aur makaan' [food, clothes and house] while Nawaz kept chanting that he would make Pakistan an Asian Tiger. "Nawaz just made his family an Asian Tiger," he claimed, adding "Look at what he did with the people."

“Country’s ‘biggest dacoits’ Nawaz and Zardari have looted Pakistanis,” he claimed, adding that because of these politicians’ policies, every Pakistani had a debt of Rs120,000. On Nawaz claiming that he was disqualified as the prime minister of Pakistan over the Iqama and not Panama case, Imran said that “Iqama is a way of laundering money.”

Imran even mentioned the testimony of Lyari gang war kingpin Uzair Baloch and asked Zardari to explain his involvement with the gangster. “Zardari should speak about what Uzair Baloch has said about him and tell the nation all that he has done,” he said. Baloch claimed that he committed murders on Zardari’s orders and that he illegally confiscated 14 sugar mills in the province and sold it on minimal prices to Zardari, said Imran. “What is this if not corrupt mafia?”

"Corruption mafia is looting the country," said Imran Khan, adding, “Unfathomable amount of corruption occurs just in the collection of taxes.” Reacting to Pakistan People’s Party Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto Zardari’s comments against him, he asked the opponent why he was scared of Imran.

Earlier in the day, Bilawal had claimed that Imran would go to any extent to come into power. “Bilawal, you didn’t give us the permission to hold a rally in Sehwan. What are you so scared of?” he asked. He added, “Have we ever stopped you from holding rallies in KP? We will even send people to attend your rallies.”

The PTI chairman also said that the country's two institutions, Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and National Accountability Bureau (NAB), were in dire need of change.  "We need to work towards improving two institutions -- FBR and NAB."

“The day we improve these two institutions, the country will get money to invest in basic necessities such as education, infrastructure, among other things,” he pointed out. The PTI chief also criticised the Sindh Police and claimed that they were being used by the powerful to instill fear in citizens. “The people fear the police because the powerful use police to file false FIRs,” he claimed.

“However, if we come into power, the same Sindh Police, which people fear, will become like the police in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa so that the people are proud of the police. “I am always standing with helpless and powerless people,” Imran claimed, adding that if he came into power, he would eliminate the class divide. “We will ensure that there is the same law for the weak and the powerful.”

Imran promised to the people in Sehwan saying, “Soon change is going to happen and like former prime minister Nawaz many others will also ask ‘why were we disqualified’. "Rest assured, we will come into power in the upcoming elections,” he said, adding, “We have to make Pakistan greener and improve the environment.”

He also shared that PTI planned to plant at least one billion trees in all the provinces of Pakistan. Addressing the rally, PTI Vice-Chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi criticised the Sindh government and said that Murad Ali Shah proved to be an unsuccessful chief minister. “The PPP has been ruling Sindh for the past 10 years,” he remarked, asking, "What has the party done for you?"

“The scenic Gorakh Hills are part of the Sindh but the government has not invested to improve or maintain the tourist spot,” he said. "The cruel rulers are accumulating wealth from the national treasury," he said.

Earlier, Khan reached the rally’s venue and was joined by party’s top leaders such as Liaquat Jatoi, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, and Jehangir Tareen. The PTI chief visited the shrine of Lal Shahbaz Qalandar and then arrived at the rally’s venue. Scores of workers had gathered for the rally and kept on chanting slogans in favour of the PTI.

Former Sindh chief minister and PTI's local leader, Liaquat Ali Jatoi, said the organisers had placed 40,000 chairs at Lal Bahadur Ground for the public gathering whereas 80,000 were present and attending the rally while standing. Moreover, around 1,000 police personnel had been deployed to secure the event. In a video message on Saturday, Imran said that Sindh, in comparison with the other provinces, was in dire need of reforms.