Pakistan

Imran slams Sindh leadership for 'looting development funds'

Imran visits Shikarpur to launch province-wide election campaign for the upcoming local government polls

Web Desk September 03, 2015

Imran Khan addresses media in Shikarpur on September 3, 2015. PHOTO: PTI

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan on Thursday accused Sindh's leaders of embezzling public funds in the province, a jibe apparently directed towards the leadership of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP).

"Corruption is the biggest issue of Sindh,” Imran said while talking to the media during his visit to Shikarpur. The visit is part of a province-wide election campaign for the upcoming local government (LG) polls.

Corruption is indeed the greatest malady of Sindh.
Development funds are being siphoned abroad.#IKinSindh pic.twitter.com/mv6Hct2Wry
— PTI Sindh Official (@PTISindhOffice) September 3, 2015

Read: PTI to challenge Pakistan Peoples Party in Sindh

“I could not visit Sindh as many times as I should have,” the PTI chief said, adding that he was mainly restricted to the capital due to his sit-in and the proceedings of the judicial commission (JC) on alleged rigging in 2013 general elections. “It took me 2.5 years to expose rigging in the 2013 polls."

In response to a question, the PTI chief said the chief election commissioner assured him he will look into the issues highlighted by the JC and will make sure they are not repeated in the next elections.

“People of Sindh want change,” the PTI supremo claimed. "I have been visiting this province for 19 years and I can tell the tsunami is soon going to sweep away corruption in Sindh.”

While praising efforts of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) government for curbing corruption, Imran said he will welcome Rangers’ action against corrupt officials in K-P.

Imran announced that the PTI-led government in K-P declared Provincial Finance Award for the first time in the province.

The PTI chief assured farmers that his party will stand with the farmers of Sindh and will fight for their rights.

Read: PTI won’t be part of any grand alliance: Umar

Earlier, Imran announced holding a historic rally in Islamabad against what he called the corrupt provincial members of the Election Commission of Pakistan.

The PTI will not repeat the past mistakes in awarding party tickets in the upcoming polls, he added.

COMMENTS (9)

Salman - SK | 8 years ago | Reply @Jalbani Baloch: I can empathize with what you are saying, but the fact remains that Pakistan needs more provinces for administrative purposes, not just Sindh. There is a solution to the dilemma you have stated, and that lies in the Spanish model, where there are regions and then provinces in those regions. It is not democratically appropriate to have Punjab as 66% of Pakistan and to have the whole Seraiki region stuck in Punjab. Similarly the Hazaras in KPK and the Pukhtoons in Balochistan are stuck in the same dilemma. People have to let go of their regional nationalism for the sake of the country as a whole. MQM's dilly-dallying for a separate province is demagoguery and rabble-rousing and not a demand based on fairness and equity. If you notice they raise this demand only when they are out of government with no means to share in the loot and plunder. Yet you cannot have a city of almost 20 million people with no self-governing structure ruled and policed as a colony from outsiders.

Ayesha Khan | 8 years ago | Reply Imran khan U Rocks May Allah Bless U And Give U Success We Love U.U R Our Hero In Politics Imran Khan Go Nd Get Success

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farhan | 8 years ago | Reply @jalbani blanch..... where were you or when the the sindhi racists bhutto introduced the quote system and started faking the stupendous population figures for rural sindh. you guys are the one who laid the foundation for the division in sindh and still not accepting the wrong doings committed by the sindh establishment. i am not in favor of sindh's division but abolishing quite system and local governments with power is a must thing to do...

Jalbani Baloch | 8 years ago | Reply I am Sindhi but do not have any sympathy with PPP since it has utterly failed to live up to the expectations of Sindhis, who have always sup-ported PPP. Sindhis still love Bhuttos and shall keep on loving them, but Bhuttos and PPP cannot be now deemed as two-sides of one coin. Bhuttos are symbol of sacrifice, whereas PPP led by its current leadership is a symbol of corruption, so much so, that LARKANA, which provided Prime Ministers to Pakistan for three times, is in a shattered and tattered condition. Mr. Imran Khan is acceptable to Sindhis as long as he opposes the construction of Kalabagh Dam and the division of Sindh, which is off and on, highlighted by MQM, while not forgetting that Sindh exists from ages as a separate homeland for Sindhis and it was forcefully occupied by British in 1843. Sindhis from Karachi to Kashmore love their homeland and are not even prepared to hear the noises of its division. Good luck to IK and Sindhis welcome you to bring a change in dynastic nature of politics in Pakistan.

Napier Mole | 8 years ago | Reply Imran Khan has no specific agenda, whether at local or at federal level, except to gain power at any cost. It took 2.5 years and constant prodding by SC before elections were held in KPK. As re Karachi, everyone wants to own the gold of Karachi but give a damn for its soul. Given that they have been electioneering for so long, has PTI come up with a specific tangible agenda for the metropolitan level cities, for major urban areas, for peri urban areas and for rural areas viz district councils. IK is just good at empty rhetoric. MQM did need a credible rival in Khi so that it could focus on its original mandate of urban issues but PTI failed to rise to the occasion and have limited themselves to attacks on the party and its leader rather than a blueprint for civic governance of Karachi.

Mohammed | 8 years ago | Reply @Raisani: I know PML trolls are desperate to lumber all politicians as the same as them but IK can be called many things but a thieve he is not.

Salman - SK | 8 years ago | Reply Imran Khan will walk in a fertile land if he concentrates on wooing the voters in Sindh. People are yearning to have honest and caring leaders represent them. People's Party is history and will slowly slide towards irrelevance. It should have been a natural turf for MQM if they were not ethnocentric bigots raising the Muhajir card and representing neither them nor anyone else except the 'bhatta mafia.'

Glowing Pakistan | 8 years ago | Reply I pray for your success in Sindh IK. Every province making some progress but sindh not. I will not blame govt of sindh in this regard because people here still believe Bhutto aj bhi zinda ha. And they also still believe in ethnic parties. And the most strange thing is that they feel proud of it.

Raisani | 8 years ago | Reply Khan Sahab we know, if given a chance you will also break all previous records of looting. We have no faith in politicians now.

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