Nawaz, Zardari love money, not country: Imran

KARACHI: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chairman Imran Khan has said conspiracies are being spun to weaken the Army, the Supreme Court and the National Accountability Bureau by maligning them.

Addressing a public meeting at a ground adjacent to the Aladin Park on Saturday, he said they are attacking the Supreme Court to escape accountability trials. He asked them: how did they acquire this large wealth and how was it laundered out. Imran said Nawaz Sharif, the former prime minister, will soon give an interview from the jail. He took a jibe at Nawaz for his ‘do justice’ slogans and said why didn’t he talk about this when he was in power. “I have struggled 22 years against Nawaz and [former president Pakistan Peoples Party co-chairperson] Asif Zardari,” he said calling them “Mir Jafar and Mir Sadiq of Pakistan.”

Imran said both the leaders would hold the country as a slave to their personal benefit, as their loyalty lies only with money and not with Pakistan. He said both Nawaz and Zardari have kept their billions stashed in London, and said they are only afraid of their Rs300 billion being recovered from them.

Imran said they criticized him when he opposed using the army, in the northwestern tribal belt, against militancy and called him Taliban Khan. I wasn’t against the army but him who had sent them. He, who gave the orders to the military to kill the people, was responsible.”

About his plan for Karachi, Imran presented ten points before the public that includes water supply, city administration, public schools and hospitals reforms. He said if his party made it to power then they will revamp the city’s administration system and will hold a direct election for the mayor. He said education should be free for all, public should receive better care in government hospitals, law and order should be maintained, business should flourish in the financial hub of the country, more jobs should be created, cheaper electricity should be provided to the public, environment should be protected by planting trees and youth skill development center be established.

He asked Zardari why he couldn’t hold the killers of his wife accountable, former prime minister Benazir Bhutto. “Wasn’t this his responsibility,” he said. The PTI chief said the people of southern Punjab should know that “Nawaz is the enemy of the country”. Replying to the PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari’s remarks about him that he wanted to become the next Altaf Hussain in Karachi, Imran called him a “bacha (kid)” and said didn’t he know who gave Rao Anwar orders to murder people. He said the PPP leader Faryal Talpur is making appointments in the Sindh Police by taking kickbacks.