Imran fires first salvo at Nawaz and Zardari

Zardari was arrested twice from the PM house over corruption cases, PM Nawaz shares a similar history, he says

MUZAFFARABAD:

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan once again hit out at Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and former president Asif Ali Zardari accusing them of massive corruption and rigging in elections as he promised to strengthen the local body system in Azad Jammu and Kashmir.

“Asif Ali Zardari was arrested twice from the prime minister house over corruption cases, Prime Minister Nawaz shares a similar history,” Imran told supporters at a public rally in Kotli in AJK on Wednesday.



The PTI chief’s rally was part of the party’s campaign for general elections in the valley.

“Thirty years ago these leaders (Nawaz and Zardari) had nothing in their pockets and now they own palaces and property in foreign countries worth billions of rupees,” Imran said as he accused the two leaders of remitting money earned through corruption abroad.

He added that as many as 12 cases were currently pending in the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) which was a source of concern for the prime minister.

Claiming that prevalent corruption discouraged overseas Kashmiris from investing in their native area, Imran said his party would root out corruption and corrupt leaders.

“The people in AJK in the upcoming general elections have to follow in the footprints of PTI leader Jehangir Khan Tareen who put every polling station in Lodhran under the microscope to screen rigging and managed to beat the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) by more than 40,000 votes,” he said as he urged the public to vote out the two parties which had been looting the public in turns.

To substantiate his argument, Imran pointed to the arrest of a sitting Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) minister over corruption charges. This, he said, was the revolution.



The PTI chief also criticised the government’s move to privatise Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) and Steel Mills, contending that divestment of institutions was not the best way to make them profitable. Government, he said, should focus on the management of both these institutions.

Imran also highlighted the local government in K-P, noting that PTI believes in local bodies system which solves the problems of the people at their doorsteps.

“Over Rs44billion have been transferred to local bodies in K-P,” he said, adding “PTI also wants to strengthen the local body system in AJK to serve the people at grassroots level.”

The PTI chief appealed to the United Nations to accord the right of self-determination to the people of Indian Kashmir to decide their future and implement its resolutions on Kashmir to bring peace to South Asia.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 25^th, 2016.