Pakistan, India need true leadership, says Imran

Says two prime ministers lack such qualities to lead the nation

LAHORE: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan once again criticised the secret meeting between Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his Indian counterpart at the 2014 regional summit in Kathmunda, saying the two countries lack visionary leaderships.

“I don’t see leadership in both Nawaz Sharif and Narendra Modi,” he said while addressing the South Asia Middle East Conclave session on Thursday.



“Pakistan and India need leadership, not secret meetings, that too by businessmen,” he added. If I were in place of Nawaz Sharif, Imran said, I would focus on a vision to bring peace. “Leaders are not scared. They have courage of conviction.”  He lamented that the two leaders have failed to formulate policies to rid the two countries of poverty and peace.



Stressing on the need to sell vision to their people first, the PTI leader said survival of subcontinent lay in mobilising the people. “Leadership is what inspires people, not holding secret meetings.”  From talking about Kashmir to exploring trade potential between the two neighbouring countries, he urged the two prime ministers to overcome fear and work for the people.

In his speech, Imran also hit out at Pakistan Peoples Party chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, saying: “I can’t become a leader simply by putting up pictures of my mother and grandfather. This isn’t leadership. Leadership is the name of struggle” he added.”



Praising his own party’s governance in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, he said the initiatives including restoration and commercialisation of rest houses to plantation of 100 million trees over the next five years wouldn’t need to campaign for the next general elections.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 4^th, 2015.