PTI to launch protests in August

Imran says poverty, unemployment and lawlessness are country’s biggest problems

SIALKOT: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Imran Khan pledged on Friday that his party would mount its agitation campaign against the government from Lahore in August and dislodge the rulers for good this time round.

According to him, youth and farmers all over the country will rise up in support of the PTI campaign.



Addressing a rally at the Allama Iqbal Chowk in Sialkot in support of Chaudhry Maqbool Ahmad of Ruknabad, his party’s candidate in the upcoming Azad Kashmir elections, Imran Khan said that poverty, unemployment and lawlessness are currently Pakistan’s biggest problems.

Pledging to help grant rights upon workers and farmers, Imran said that for the country to be aligned on the path to progress, the people need to rise up against injustice and corruption. According to him, the rulers were not providing relief to the farming community.

Imran said that the Kashmir issue cannot be resolved until Pakistan had once again regained its independence.

Ridiculing the ruling elite, the PTI chief said that rulers, who lived by foreign loans, cannot decide the fate of Kashmir.

Reminding the crowd that the PM had promised to turn Pasrur into Paris, he said that the people of London were now living in fear that the PM would turn London into Pasrur.

Promising to wage an unending war against corruption, he said that money laundering at an unprecedented scale had damaged the country to its core.



Accusing the Sharif family of resorting to money laundering, he said that Nawaz Sharif, Kulsoom Nawaz and Hassan Nawaz’s statements were rife with contradictions.

The PTI chief said that the rulers mimicked the royalty of the Mughals while the people in the country suffered excessive taxes.

Advising the PM to personally bear the expenses incurred during his stay in London, Imran said that he would not rest until he ensured the accountability of the rulers, especially the Sharif family.

Promising to reform accountability in institutions, he said that once his party was propelled to power, he would restructure the NAB and present himself for accountability. He said that ever since its inception 15 years ago, the accountability bureau had been moving against the small fry while overlooking the corruption of big fish.

Blaming lack of governance on the ruling PML-N, Imran Khan said that the incumbent government was promoting a princely culture, promoting their kin to rule the country in their absence.

Imran warned Nawaz Sharif against meddling in the Azad Kashmir election, otherwise it would portray Pakistan in a bad light.

Prominent among PTI leaders who attended the rally are: Jahangir Tareen, Shafqat Mahmood and Sultan Mahmud.  Chairman of Union Council Korike Sikandar Khan announced that he was joining the PTI along with other political activists.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 9^th, 2016.