Daily Times

CHARSADDA/ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan on Thursday accused former prime minister Nawaz Sharif of presenting his wife’s ailment as a tool to emotionally blackmail the people of Pakistan.

“All of our hearts are with Kulsoom Nawaz. My mother also had cancer and I had to take her abroad for treatment. But this does not mean that this should be used to emotionally blackmail the nation. You did not remember Kulsoom Nawaz when she was undergoing treatment in London and you [Nawaz] were doing jalsas across the country,” the PTI chief said at a ceremony arranged to welcome former PML-N leader Zafar Ali Shah into the party.

“Nawaz Sharif … you will read this [Avenfield reference] verdict in newspapers. Adiala jail is waiting for you,” Imran said, while commenting on an application moved with the accountability court by Nawaz Sharif and Maryam Nawaz, requesting that the announcement of the verdict in Avenfield reference should be delayed for a week. Imran also questioned the basis on which Sharifs had moved the request and asked, “Is the same facility available to the common man also?”

Imran remarked that those who looted the country must be defeated in the upcoming general elections. Lashing out at his political rivals Asif Zardari and Nawaz Sharif, the cricketer-turned-politician alleged that the two leaders looted the country’s money and transferred it to their foreign bank accounts.

“After coming to power, we will strengthen those institutions which are working to root out corruption,” he promised. Imran also spoke against the system of dynastic politics in the country, claiming it to be the sole reason behind democracy being unable to function properly in the country.

“Democracy failed in Pakistan due to family politics,” he said. “Pakistan’s democracy is not a true democracy. What kind of democracy does Pakistan have? Here a son becomes a political leader only because of his father,” he said, adding that leaders come to the top on merit in a true democracy.

Taking a jibe at PML-N leader Maryam Nawaz, Imran said that she has not worked even a single day in her life and yet hopes to become the future prime minister. “She doesn’t even know about the lives of the working class,” he remarked.

Making similar comments about Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) chief Bilawal Bhutto, Imran said that he doesn’t know what struggle is.

The PTI chief said that Nawaz Sharif’s fate will be sealed on Friday (today), referring to the verdict in the Avenfield reference against the Sharif family.

Welcoming Shah into the party fold, Imran said he hoped the former senator would raise his voice if he saw PTI leadership engaging in any sort of financial corruption just like he had raised his voice against Nawaz Sharif.

Imran Khan added that Shah’s inclusion in the party will strengthen it in NA-53 where the party’s on-ground position is weak. The PTI chief said that he still remembered how Shah had defeated him from Islamabad in 1997 elections.

Published in Daily Times, July 6^th 2018.