Nawaz groomed by Gen Zia, Zardari inherited politics from Benazir: Imran

PESHAWAR: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan said here Friday that the country did not get any leader who came through democratic process as some were groomed by former military dictator General Ziaul Haq while others were hereditary.

“General Ziaul Haq groomed former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari claimed to have inherited politics from his spouse Benazir Bhutto. Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has no political struggle behind him,” he maintained.

The PTI chief was speaking at the cash distribution ceremony among the first batch of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Impact Challenge initiative at the Nishtar Hall and at the Digital Youth Summit 2018 held at a local hotel.

He said the people who became leaders had a struggle behind them.

“Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah was amongst the top leaders of the subcontinent. He struggled for 40 long years while Nelson Mandela, who was South Africa’s anti-apartheid revolutionary and political leader, spent 27 years in jail,” Imran Khan elaborated.

He said that Bilawal Bhutto Zardari did not have any service for democracy and didn’t work even for a minute but he says he would look after the entire country.

He also acknowledged the struggle of Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan when someone from the audience interrupted him and turned his attention toward the late freedom-fighter. “Yes, Bacha Khan had a history of political struggle and he was a leader too,” Imran Khan added.

When another youth interrupted the PTI chairman as he was giving examples of leaders and shouted that chief of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl, Maulana Fazlur Rehman was also a leader, Imran Khan instead said that his late father Maulana Mufti Mehmood was a leader.

Imran Khan called Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif a ‘drama baaz’ (actor). “His development is limited to advertisements in newspapers. Wherever Shahbaz goes he repeats his claim that this or that place would be developed like Paris, the capital of France. His development stopped after the court slapped a ban on running ads in media on government expenses,” he added.

Imran Khan claimed the PTI-led Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government improved the standard of education and health services at the public sector hospitals.

He reiterated his claim that parents withdrew their children from private schools and enrolled at the state-run schools because of the improvements in the latter.

“Around 150,000 children were withdrawn from private schools and enrolled at government schools,” he claimed.

The PTI chief said that some ‘fools’ thought that development came through constructing roads and bridges. “Only quality education and upholding merit can guarantee development,” he maintained.

He also mentioned the introduction of reforms and its impact on the performance of the police force.

About the KP Impact Challenge initiative, Imran Khan said that it was a step in the right direction, adding such schemes were imperative to promote entrepreneurship.

He said the youth should start their own small businesses instead of running after government jobs. He said there was no shortcut in life and one can achieve the goal by continuous struggle and hard work.

Imran Khan gave his own example how he was dropped from the national cricket team for failure to perform and then staged a comeback after hard work and improvement in his cricketing skills.

He said that nobody should run after ministers or politicians for getting government job and instead rely on their own self and hard work.

He claimed the PTI would win and form the next government in the province. He vowed to continue supporting the entrepreneurs and expand the scope of the KP Impact Challenge Programme.

Provincial Minister for Youth Affairs Mehmood Khan said the KP Impact Challenge initiative was aimed at providing financial and technical support to youth with innovative business ideas to start their own small businesses.

He said the government had allocated Rs500 million for the purpose and the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) was providing technical support to the selected youth whose ideas were approved after completing the necessary process.

The minister said that 300 new small businesses would be supported under the initiative, adding that around 1,100 youth applied in which initially 100 were selected. He said that 43 out of the 100 selected beneficiaries were provided necessary training by the LUMS university for establishing their own business.

A total of 43 girls and boys were given Rs500,000 to Rs20,000 cheques on the occasion.

One beneficiary Amir Hussain from Malka village of Mandanr tehsil in Buner district, who did his master’s in Electronics Engineering, appreciated the initiative. He stressed the need for more such programmes for youth to enable them to establish their own businesses.

He said he has established a technical training centre named Peshawar Technical Centre in Buner where around 60 youth were imparted technical skills.