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Thursday March 28, 2024

No pact with looters: Imran

By Our Correspondent
March 19, 2018

KARACHI: Chairman of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Imran Khan has claimed that he will be able to break the “partnership” between former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and former president Asif Ali Zardari in the upcoming general elections of 2018. “These two wickets will fall at the same time and on the same delivery,” said the PTI chairman while addressing “Meet-the-Press” programme of the Karachi Press Club on Sunday.

Imran Khan said that he would not be in a position to face himself in the mirror if ever he did any seat adjustment or electoral alliance with a party led by a corrupt person. He said that making an alliance with a corrupt political party was equivalent to supporting corruption. “I would not have waged political struggle for 22 years, had I supposed to do such a thing,” said PTI chairman.

He said that Nawaz Sharif and Zardari both were responsible for completely ruining the country as owing to them, Pakistan had to face the worst-ever situation of foreign debts. He said that each Pakistani had to pay Rs123,000 as his or her share in foreign debt of the country. He said that ruling elite of the country went on becoming richer.

He said that Chairman of Pakistan People’s Party Bilawal Bhutto Zardari was a child as he had no realisation of the national situation. The PTI chairman said that he would not respond to the statements of Bilawal Bhutto as he was not aware of the situation in the country.

He said that the father of Bilawal Bhutto had become a billionaire as the chairman of PPP; he should sometime ask his father the question about the sources he (Asif Zardari) had utilised to accumulate so much wealth.

He said that those who were used to forming the government just to accumulate wealth and gain political power could never change systems of the country, of the province of Sindh, and that of Karachi.

He said that the entire Sindh, including Karachi, had been ruined owing to corruption. He said that ill-gotten money was being siphoned off to London and Dubai. The people of Karachi should once give a chance to the PTI as his party would change the system of the entire country, including that of Karachi. Imran Khan said the reason he was used to coming to Karachi was so that its people should give a chance to the party, which was never before given an opportunity by them before.

He said that all knew well the performance and results given by the political parties, which had been given a chance earlier by the people of Karachi to rule. He said the recent remarks of chief justice of Pakistan had given the indication that people of Karachi had been consuming things produced through sewerage system. He said that change had become inevitable in Karachi as the city required a novel local government system.

The PTI chairman said the best local government system had been in practice in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa but rest of the provinces would never adopt it as the hegemony of their respective governments would be resultantly weakened.

He said that political parties, which had ruled the city for the last 30 years, had failed to change the destiny of people of Karachi. Karachi required a new local government system, he said.

He said that the mayor of Karachi should be elected through the system of direct election. He said that the methodology adopted by the present Sindh government and its local government system could never resolve the problems of Karachi.

Those who were used to ruling Karachi while sitting in London had completely ruined the city, said the PTI chairman. He said that the PTI would surely resolve the basic issues of Karachi and would change its policing system, if given a chance by the people of the city.

He said that the Rangers continued to be deployed in the city owing to mismanaged status of the Karachi Police. He said that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had regained an exemplary status of peace owing to amendment in the Police Act. Due to the same situation of peace in KPK, Nawaz Sharif and Asfandyar Wali were in a position to deliver speeches publicly there, said the PTI chairman.

He said that those political parties, which used to get the mandate to rule in Sindh from rest of the province except Karachi, had no interest in the city. He said that whatsoever political party had come to rule the city had no basis in Karachi as earlier a political leader had ruled the city while its leader kept on sitting in London.

To a question regarding the support given by the PTI to PPP in the recent election to choose the top slots of Senate, he said that Pakistan had emerged victorious in the Senate election as it was a good omen for Balochistan.

He said that architect of “Politics of Changa Manga” Nawaz Sharif had alleged that money mattered in the recent Senate election while Maulana Fazlur Rehman also levelled similar allegations regarding the Senate polls. Fazlur Rehman had emerged as the prime beneficiary of the money spent in the Senate elections, said PTI chairman.

He said that former prime minister Nawaz Sharif had been denied the opportunity to elect his party’s Senate chairman as in case of victory, he (Nawaz Sharif) would gain a favourable position to do legislation in his own favour.

He said that the PTI once in power would give strength to the parliament as a prime minister of his party would not be like Nawaz Sharif as he would be answerable to parliament. The PTI would make it binding upon its future PM to present himself and become answerable before the parliament every week, said Imran Khan.