DADU: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan Sunday said that after Nawaz Sharif’s ouster from power following disqualification by Supreme Court in Panama Papers case, it’s time for Asif Ali Zardari’s wicket to fall over corruption.
“Zardari, similar to the tactics used by [former prime minister] Nawaz Sharif, either buys loyalties [of politicians] or intimidates [them] or gets his rivals killed,” Imran told a rally in Sehwan. “Even today, the family of Murtaza Bhutto holds Zardari responsible for his murder.”
Imran mentioned the testimony of Lyari gang war kingpin Uzair Baloch and asked Zardari to explain his involvement with the gangster. “Zardari should speak about what Uzair Baloch has said about him and tell the nation all that he has done.”
Baloch claimed that he committed murders on Zardari’s orders and that he illegally confiscated 14 sugar mills in the province and sold it on minimal prices to Zardari, said Imran. “What is this if not corrupt mafia?” he asked.
“Zardari duped people using the slogan of roti, kaprra aur makaan [food, clothes and house] while Nawaz kept chanting that he will make Pakistan an Asian Tiger,” the PTI chief said, adding, “Nawaz just made his own family an Asian Tiger.”
Country’s ‘biggest dacoits’ Nawaz and Zardari have looted Pakistanis, Imran claimed, adding that because of the policies of these politicians, every Pakistani was now under the debt burden of Rs 120,000.
“Nowhere in Pakistan have I witnessed the poverty which is prevalent in rural Sindh,” Imran said. “[Asif Ali] Zardari and corruption are two names for the same thing. Today, every year, Pakistan suffers corruption amounting to Rs 4,000 billion,” he said. Had corruption been stopped, he added, there would have been no need for the country to borrow money from international institutions. Criticising the PPP for creating hurdles for PTI to organise rallies in the province, Imran asked the party what they were afraid of. “PTI can lend PPP stadiums in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and even provide supporters to them if they are short of them in their rallies,” Imran said, adding, “People of Sindh need not worry … we will win the next election and empower them. We will develop such a police force in the province on which people will be able to have faith in.”
On Nawaz claiming that he was disqualified as prime minister of Pakistan over iqama and not Panama case, Imran said that iqama is a way of laundering money.
The PTI chief remarked that country’s two institutions – Federal Board of Revenue and National Accountability Bureau – are in dire need of reforms.
“We need to work towards improving FBR and NAB. The day we improve these two institutions, the country will have enough money to invest in basic necessities such as education, infrastructure, etc,” he said.
“I always stand with the helpless and the powerless,” Imran said, adding that if he comes to power, he will finish the class divide. “We will ensure that there is same law for the weak and the powerful.”
Addressing the rally, PTI Vice-Chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi criticised the Sindh government and said that Murad Ali Shah had proved to be an unsuccessful chief minister. “PPP has ruled over Sindh since past 10 years … what the party has done for you?” he asked the gathering.
Earlier, Imran Khan reached the rally venue and was joined by party top leaders including Liaquat Jatoi, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, and Jahangir Tareen. The PTI chief also visited the shrine of Lal Shahbaz Qalandar.
Published in Daily Times, October 23rd 2017.
