Daily Times

SUKKUR: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan Friday strongly criticised the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) for what he said that the party had neglected uplift of Sindh, particularly Sukkur.
“The situation was not much deteriorating when I entered politics 21 years ago,” Khan said while addressing a rally in Sukkur on Friday. “Sindh’s biggest issues are unemployment and large-scale corruption,” he said, adding that Sukkur, which holds an important geostrategic position in the world, had been turned into ruins due to gross corruption and outrageous slackness.

As part of the party’s mass contact drive, the PTI chairman said that the rally was aimed at alleviating the miseries of the local people rather than “hunting for votes”.

Setting forth the future strategy, Khan said that the PTI after coming into power would spend taxpayers’ money on the welfare of Sindhis. “The money which was supposed to be spent on the development of Sindh was looted by the PPP government,” he alleged.

He said that the PPP and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) were two sides of the same coin and expressed hope that the PTI would win the next general elections in 2018. Khan claimed that PPP Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari would meet the same fate as Nawaz Sharif.

He criticised the Sharif family for evading the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) summons. “Can anyone else who is accused of corruption, money laundering, assets concealment and tax evasion dare evade NAB summons,” he questioned.

Referring to Unites States President Donald Trump’s remarks in which he had accused Pakistan of “harbouring terrorist safe havens”, Khan said, “This should teach us once and for all a valuable lesson…never to fight others wars for the sake of dollars,” he said, adding: “We must reject being made scapegoats for the policy failures of the US and India.”

He expressed concern that the US statement on greater Indian involvement in Afghanistan could lead to a proxy war between Pakistan and India on Afghan soil.

The cricketer-turned-politician once again criticised former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, stating that the PML-N chief had not uttered a word against Donald Trump after his incendiary speech against Pakistan.
“Nawaz is silent regarding Trump’s statement because his wealth is abroad,” he said. “I urge each and every one of you not to vote for anyone whose wealth is not in Pakistan,” he added. Reposing confidence in the Pakistan Army, he said that the armed forces were capable of defending the motherland.

Awami Muslim League (AML) chief Shaikh Rasheed Ahmed, PTI leaders Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Liaquat Jatoi, Dr Arif Alvi, Jehangir Tareen, Abdul Majeed Pathan, Mubeen Jatoi, Niaz Khoso and others were also present.

Published in Daily Times, August 26^th 2017.