Daily Times

Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Central Punjab General Secretary Syed Hassan Murtaza has criticised Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman Imran for inciting the youth to violence and pushing them to jails, while his own sons are enjoying life elsewhere. Addressing a press conference at the PPP Punjab Secretariat here on Saturday, he said Imran Khan was not a genuine leader, as he used courts and his party workers as a shield to protect himself. He alleged that Khan had given matches and battens in the hands of children of the nation and asked them to burn the country.

Addressing former premier, he said: “You have pushed the country into anarchy.” He asked Khan why he did not call his sons, Qasim and Salman, to lead the party. He said Khan wanted to use others’ children as a prey and he himself wanted to enjoy Naran and Kaghan along with his sons. Hassan said he was standing with the state despite having some reservations. He said the PPP never raised slogans against Pak Army and it never weakened the forces. He alleged that minds were prepared for almost one year before staging May-9 terrorism. He said the nation was isolated by injecting anti-state narrative. He said that the foreign policy was weakened and friends like China, UAE and Iran were forced to distance from Pakistan. “Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari defended Pakistan and Kashmir in the United States,” he added.

Hassan said that the medical reports had exposed that he (Imran Khan) had no wound on legs and he was addicted to drugs. He said the country had been handed over to an addicted person to rule it. He said there was no comparison of Benazir Bhutto Shaheed and her workers with coward Imran Niazi and his followers, as the PPP leadership and workers had bravely faced imprisonments whereas the PTI workers were unable to remain few minutes in jails.

The PPP leader alleged that Imran Niazi accepted foreign funding to close down China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project. He said the miscreants involved in the attack on Jinnah House [corps commander’s house] should be punished according to the law and constitution. However, he added, innocent people should be released. He said that issues like clean drinking water and others in Sindh province would be solved soon. He said the PPP was the party which had always given record employments, and once again increase of 50 per cent in the salaries was a demand of the PPP. PPP Lahore chapter President Ch Aslam Gill and other party leaders were present.