Imran rules out political alliance with ‘certified criminal’ Zardari

PTI chief claims police force in Sindh and Punjab is involved in extrajudicial killings

KARACHI: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan has ruled out a political alliance with the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) for the upcoming general elections, saying, “[Co-chairman Asif Ali] Zardari is a criminal, I cannot stand beside him.”

Talking to media-persons outside the Karachi airport on Saturday, Khan said both Zardari and former prime minister Nawaz Sharif were criminals. “My political struggle of 21 years is against both of them,” he added.

He said the PPP and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) ruled Pakistan for 19 years, and leaders of both the parties were making bumbling attempts to save their corruption.



He said the PPP and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) ruled Pakistan for 19 years, and leaders of both the parties were making bumbling attempts to save their corruption.

Taking the Sindh government to task, he said, “Had there been police reforms, extra-judicial killing of people like Naqeebullah Mehsud would not have happened.”

He said no police officer could carry out encounters without being patronised. “The biggest problem of Karachi lies with its police force,” he said.

The PTI chief reiterated that even Punjab had not implemented police reforms, claiming that the outcome of police reforms under his party-led government in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa had subsequently declined the crime ratio.

The induction of cadets into the police force had been carried out with the help of the National Testing Service, he added.

Khan said 5,000 police officials had been removed from service over various charges in K-P whereas in Punjab and Sindh, the “police force is used to victimise opponents”.



“Rulers are criminalising police force,” he said, adding that 2,500 police personnel were deputed to safeguard the Sharif family. “Even the Queen of England does not have such security,” he said.

Bashing the Punjab police, the PTI chief said the father of the murdered Kasur girl Zainab had appealed to the army chief for justice whereas the father of Asma, who was murdered in Mardan did not appeal to anyone as the people of K-P had trust in its police.

“Police have curbed crime tremendously in K-P as no political interference is accepted there,” he said. “A child pornography scandal has emerged in Kasur, but it has been suppressed by powerful people involved in the crime.”

During his visit to Karachi, the PTI chief will meet the family of Naqeebullah Mehsud to offer his condolences and will also visit the camp of Mehsud tribe set up on Super Highway.