Imran asks Nawaz to come clean before ‘it’s too late’

If Tehreek-e-Ehtesab reaches Lahore, the Sharifs will not be able to flee to Jeddah, says PTI chief

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan ratcheted up pressure on Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Saturday, asking him to come clean on the Panama Papers revelations before it is too late.

“If our Tehreek-e-Ehtesab (Accountability Movement) reaches Lahore according to schedule, then you may not get a chance even to flee to Jeddah,” Imran said. “This time the PTI will not have any concession to offer to the rulers.”

Imran was addressing hundreds of party activists, who had converged on Murree Road in front of Liaquat Bagh in Rawalpindi to attend a rally as part of PTI’s ongoing Accountability Movement.  He warned his party would stage ‘historic protests’ in front of the offices of the country’s top graft-busting institutions, which he accused of protecting the corrupt.



The PTI rally started from Liaquat Bagh and culminated at Faisal Chowk in Islamabad late Saturday night. Hundreds of PTI supporters, riding motorbikes and cars, took part in the rally which Imran along with other party leaders led atop a purpose-built container.

Imran alleged that the state institutions, including the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), National Accountability Bureau (NAB), and Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), were protecting the alleged corruption of the Sharif family instead of making them accountable for concealing their assets, corruption and tax evasion.

“Historic protests will be organised in front of the offices of the FBR, the ECP and NAB,” he said, adding that the ongoing accountability campaign was aimed at making a ‘Naya Pakistan’.

He alleged that the corruption of the Sharif family had led to the destruction of the state institutions. “Instead of investing public money in human resource development, the Sharif family has established offshore companies,” he said. “A nation cannot become strong until its rulers invest in public education, health and employment.”

Imran said for five months the PTI had been demanding that the prime minister tell the nation where did he get the money from to stash foreign bank accounts, buy properties, and set up offshore companies. “The prime minister of Pakistan is the biggest thief of the country,” Imran alleged.



He said for the last 11 years the country had been facing the menace of terrorism and now the PTI had decided to curb it. “Thousands of madrassa students are Pakistanis and they will be brought into the mainstream by making seminary syllabus flawless,” he added.

Earlier when the rally started, a mini truck carrying sound system caught fire due to an electrical short-circuit. However, a fire tender parked near the venue rushed to the spot and extinguished fire. No one was injured in the incident.

In another incident Imran and senior leadership narrowly escaped a collision when the container carrying them passed under the Committee Chowk overhead bridge. As the PTI’s vehicle was very high, the leadership had to duck quickly to escape the overhead bridge.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 14^th, 2016.