No ulterior motives behind protest: Imran

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman unveils plans of the PTI’s anti-corruption campaign

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan on Wednesday denied that his party’s anti-corruption drive was aimed at inviting the military’s rule.

“Those who are maligning us by saying that the protest movement is meant to invite a military takeover do not know the basics of democracy,” Khan said while unveiling plans of the PTI’s anti-corruption campaign during a press conference here at his Bani Gala residence.

He said the campaign will start on August 7 (Sunday) when a protest march will be taken out from Peshawar to Attock.

Khan hit hard at his staunch rival Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his PML-N, saying: “They were nurtured by former military dictator General Ziaul Haq. They took money from the ISI and attacked the Supreme Court.”

But when we demanded accountability of corrupt rulers, they started saying that we are destabilising the system. “They are the ones who are tarnishing the image of the army,” Khan added.



The PTI chairman said the Panama leaks were a test case for major institutions of the country, including the ECP, NAB, the FBR and the State Bank. He said it was in this spirit that the PTI had approached the ECP and NAB after Sharif family members’ names emerged in the leaks.

Khan said his party was also considering filing a case in the Supreme Court against the rulers and the indifference of the government over the Panama leaks.

According to the plan, the first rally against corruption would start from the provincial capital of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa to Attock on August 7. On August 13, there would be a rally from Rawalpindi to the federal capital.

“We will give the next date of our rally on August 13 but its direction would be towards Lahore,” he said, adding this was a mobilisation campaign of his party as part of its protest movement.

Khan said the prime minister was responsible for driving his party to take to the streets because he did not answer the allegations of holding offshore companies by his family.

“The prime minister does not seem serious or willing to agree on the ToRs proposed by the opposition for the investigations and was acting like a dictator, but we have evidence to counter his claims,” he added.

At the same time, Khan said, his party would give a last chance to the government and participate in the parliamentary committee’s meeting constituted to iron out ToRs for the proposed commission to investigate the Panama Papers.

The PTI chairman condemned Indian army’s atrocities in Occupied Kashmir. He also censured Sharif for not taking up the issue internationally.

“The prime minister did not raise his voice and we suspect that he did so to protect his business interests,” he said.

Meanwhile, a woman interrupted Khan during his press conference forcing him to leave the press conference half-way through.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 4^th, 2016.