What use of Metro if people remain hungry: Imran

LAHORE: The 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 the public wealth.

Criticising the Punjab government and Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, he said what will the people get if they remain hungry and all the resources are spent on the Metro project. The PML-N launched Metro projects in Punjab but everyone knows 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 campaigns, Imran said in his address to a women 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 are an asset to the PTI and the movement has been waged against autocracy and ridding the country of the corrupt ruling mafia. He said there is a big difference between politics and movement since a movement is focused towards definite goals which could not be achieved under any time frame.

He said civilized societies strengthened institutions and established the rule of law without any discrimination based on race, religion, colour or language. While on the other hand, Nawaz Sharif has been criticising and complaining about his disqualification as if he is above the law, the PTI chief added. Imran said Zardari and Sharif families have kept Sindh and Punjab 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 the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa during the last four and half years.

Imran claimed that the Punjab government has been investing money on the Metro buses and trains instead of improving human resources as people are dying of hunger, disease and malnutrition. He said the rulers of Punjab have 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 the social media has become a powerful weapon in the hands of the masses since the mainstream media is influenced or purchased by the capitalists and the vested interests. He encouraged the people to use social media against evils of the society and governments, saying they have 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 the passion’s fight against mafia would intensify close to the elections. He expressed the confidence that if they won the elections, the PTI would bring the much-needed change he had been promising of expelling the thieves and the corrupt from power, and bring the looted public wealth back. He said PTI has three to four candidates in every constituency and the parliamentary board would soon decide about them. Imran said the present rulers have pushed the nation under huge foreign loans amounting to 100 billion dollars which they have plundered and siphoned off into their personal foreign accounts.