Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan Sunday announced to launch an anti-corruption movement in Sindh province from April 26, and a rally in Lahore next Sunday.

“We are launching a campaign against corruption in Sindh from April 26. I am going to Lahore next Sunday to mobilize people there as well,” Imran told a massive rally on the occasion of PTI’s Foundation Day here at the F-9 Park.

The PTI chief said Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has lost the moral authority to rule the country.

“Mian Sahib [Nawaz Sharif], you will have to go home,” he said, telling the premier to learn from Iceland whose prime minister resigned after revelations by Panama Papers.

The PTI chief reiterated his demand for a chief justice of Pakistan-led commission to probe revelations about offshore holdings of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s family.

Referring to the recently announced inquiry commission to probe Panama leaks, Imran said that if the terms of reference of the commission are not made specific and an international forensic firm is not called in, they will come out on the streets in agitation. “If you [PM Nawaz] didn’t form a fair judicial commission in consultation with the opposition parties, we will come out on roads and will march on Raiwind,” he added.

Lashing out at the prime minister, the PTI chairman said, “LDA plots scandal broke out but you remained safe. You took money from ISI but remained safe. Mehran Bank scandal and Hudebya Papers Mills scandals broke out but you remained safe. Panama Papers named you and your children but you still stayed safe.”

Imran lamented that an impression is being created as the entire Pakistani nation is corrupt. “People of Pakistan are not corrupt … only there rulers are,” he said.

Regarding alleged electoral rigging in 2013 general elections, Imran said he wanted Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to investigate four constituencies but the latter did not pay any heed to his demand. “And when we staged our sit-in protest, he [PM Nawaz] pretended to be innocent as if we were oppressing him.”

Criticizing federal government over mega development projects, the PTI chief said children in Pakistan are dying of malnutrition but the prime minister is introducing metro busses and orange train.

The PTI chief accused the premier of launching a smear campaign against a charitable hospital, Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital (SKMCH), in response to revelations made by Panama Papers about the Sharif family. “The hospital which is working for the welfare of hundreds of thousands of people, you (PM Nawaz) are saying that it is involved in corruption. If it’s true, then why didn’t you start an investigation against it in eight years of your rule? I challenge you, Nawaz Sharif, that you start a probe and it will only elevate the repute of the hospital. People will know how much I have spent on it,” he added.

Imran said the Pakistani people are hardworking and honest but have been subjected to corrupt rulers. “The country is running on loans as the leaders are corrupt,” he said, and added that the rich in the country are getting richer while the poor are getting poorer.

The PTI chief said that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif did not declare his assets to the Election Commission. He asked “is PML-N a political party or is sub-ordinate to a monarch?”

Imran said that he started playing cricket at a time when it was believed that defeating the powerful English side was not possible. He said that the national hockey side was at its very best during his days.

Imran said that the country was heading towards downfall instead of progress, adding that democracy in the country is heading backwards instead of moving forward.