What use of Metro if people remain hungry: Imran

Ag News desk

LAHORE: PTI Chairman Imran Khan on Saturday said he pre-empted the election of PML-N’s chairman Senate only because he feared they would legislate to allow the Sharif family to go scot-free with all the mega corruption and plundering of public wealth. Criticising the Punjab government and Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, he said what the people would get if they remained hungry but all the resources were spent on Metro. The PML-N launched Metro projects in Punjab but everyone knew about the condition of hospitals in the province, he added.

Hats off to the chief justice for taking suo motu notice of publishing the Sharif brothers’ portraits in massive advertisement campaign, Imran said in his addresses to a women’s convention at the residence of PTI MNA Munazza Hasan and later to a gathering of the party’s social media team during a daylong visit to Lahore.

Imran encouraged and praised the party workers, saying they were an asset of the PTI and the movement waged against corruption and autocracy, and ridding the country of the corrupt ruling mafia. He said there was a big difference between politics and movement since a movement was focused definite goals for which could not be achieved under any timeframe.

He said civilized societies strengthened institutions and established rule of law without any discrimination based on race, religion, colour and language. While on the other hand, Nawaz Sharif had been criticising and complaining about his disqualification as if he was above the law, the PTI chief added. Imran said the Zardari and Sharif families had taken Sindh and Punjab as hostage for four decades but did not provide basic necessities to the masses.

On the other hand, he said, the PTI government brought visible changes in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa during the last four and half years.

Imran claimed that the Punjab government had been investing money on Metro buses and trains instead of improving human resources as people were dying of hunger, diseases and malnutrition. He said the rulers of Punjab had been making false publicity in advertisements to befool the masses.

Imran promised to make women empowered, ensure their inheritance in property, and their rights as citizens, besides educating, employing and protecting them.

Underlying the importance of social media, Imran said Arab Spring was spurred and ran through social media by common people. He said social media had become a powerful weapon in the hands of masses since the mainstream media was influenced or purchased by the capitalists and vested interests.

He encouraged the people to use social media against evils of the society and governments, saying they had to counter a big mafia. “They have money and we have passion and volunteers.”

Imran termed 2018 the year of change to be brought by the youth, adding that the passion’s fight against mafia would intensify close to the elections. He expressed confidence that if won the elections, PTI would bring the much-needed change he had been promising regarding expelling the thieves and the corrupt from power, and bring the looted public wealth back.

He said PTI had three to four candidates in every constituency and the parliamentary board would soon decide about them.

Imran said present rulers pushed the nation under huge foreign loans amounting to 100 billion dollars which they had plundered and siphoned into foreign accounts through over invoicing.