Sindh govt’s corruption is unparalleled in world, says Imran

PTI chief says PML-N, PPP ‘ultimate beneficiaries’ of government’s tax amnesty scheme

HYDERABAD: Concluding his two-day whirlwind visit to Sindh, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan on Thursday called the Pakistan Peoples Party-led (PPP) Sindh government ‘one of the most corrupt in the world’.

"The plunder in Sindh has no parallel in the whole world," Khan said at a press conference in Hyderabad where he also met a delegation of farmers, visited around half a dozen membership camps, and spoke at the rallies.

The PTI chief, who has vowed to oust the PPP's Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari in a way analogous to ouster the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz's (PML-N) leader Nawaz Sharif, said he noticed winds of change blowing in Sindh. "For the first time, I see that people of Sindh have decide to get rid of [the PPP]."



He raked the PPP's leadership over the coals for allegedly deceiving the people with the slogans of 'Bhutto zinda he' [Bhutto is alive] and 'roti, kapra aur makan' [food, clothes and shelter].

"Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was a great leader but we won't let Zardari’s political career stay alive," he declared, adding that Zardari's expulsion is on the cards. Khan said although corruption also exists in other provinces, especially in Punjab, Sindh ‘outshines’ all in this aspect.

Reacting to Sharif's call to the people to take to the streets against the judiciary, Khan announced that his party will start mobilising the people against Sharif's move.

He said the PTI will organise a public meeting at Minar-e-Pakistan at Lahore on April 29 to express support for the judiciary and the Constitution. The people will convey that they are against corruption and those people who looted the national wealth and stashed it abroad, he added.

Khan restated his rejection of the federal government's amnesty scheme arguing that while the corrupt and the tax evaders are being given a reassurance, the leniency reflected poorly on honest taxpayers.

"Only 45 days are left of your [PML-N’s] government. Don't you feel ashamed of giving amnesty to biggest criminals of this country?" he asked.

He said around $10 billion mostly of the ill-gotten wealth is laundered every year from Pakistan while the country and its people are being drowned in foreign debts. Khan said if the PTI won the 2018 elections their party would investigate everyone who availed the scheme.

"Except those who have legal wealth and who can show source of their income no one will be spared of accountability," he warned. "We will rescind the scheme and conduct investigation."



Kunduz bombing

The PTI's chairman condemned the Afghan airstrike at a seminary in Kunduz, Afghanistan, saying such attacks provoke terrorism and stymie the efforts for establishing peace in the war-torn country.

"If the Americans think that they can win the war by bombing the country for 16 years, they aren't only making things difficult for themselves but also for Afghanistan's people. Their problems will increase because there will be a reaction and only Afghans will get killed."

Ultimate beneficiaries

Meanwhile, the PTI chief in a written statement said the PML-N and the PPP are the ‘ultimate beneficiaries’ of government’s assets and offshore wealth amnesty scheme. He claimed that confusion was deliberately created by the government over the definitions of persons who can avail this opportunity.

“Questionable intent of the scheme was reflected in the confusion deliberately caused by Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi while verbally referring to the scheme not being applicable to politically exposed persons,” said the statement.