Daily Times

PESHAWAR: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan said on Sunday he would welcome the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) if it decides to join his party’s movement against corruption.

Answering a question about the possible collaboration between the PPP and the PTI against Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Khan said that every single person, including he himself, should be held accountable. “PPP leaders should tell Bilawal that their party’s politics will be buried if they choose to bail out Nawaz Sharif this time. The issue is beyond optics now. People like Aitzaz Ahsan and Qamar Zaman have perhaps briefed Bilawal,” he said.

“I’ve maintained that the prime minister must be held accountable first. I might be put on trial too. And then hold everyone else accountable,” he said. He said that state machinery was being used to save Sharif instead of holding him accountable. He said that JUI-F chief Maulana Fazl-ur-Rehman signed his own political death warrant by supporting Sharif.

Separately, Khan said the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government gave a Rs 300 million grant to Dar-ul-Uloom Haqqania because it wanted to reform it in line with the agenda of the National Action Plan.

Addressing a press conference at Chief Minister’s House in Peshawar, Khan said that 2.2 million children were enrolled in madrassas throughout the country and just 800,000 in English medium schools. “Most of the poor students are enrolled in madrassas. If we ignored them, they will join the Islamic State or other militants groups,” Khan said. He said the provincial government started reforms from Dar-ul-Uloom Haqqaina and all religious leaders were supporting it.