Imran promises role for failed ticket aspirants

Says when party comes to power, ideological workers will be given chance to serve country

ISLAMABAD: The dejected party workers who had been denied party tickets would be accommodated and given a chance to serve the country once the party formed government at the Centre, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan said on Saturday.

Addressing the party’s workers at the formal launch of the party’s election campaign for three National Assembly seats of the federal capital here, Khan said, “Workers who were refused party tickets are [feeling] disappointed now. It is natural. But when the party comes to power, a number of slots will be created for such ideological workers, allowing them to work for the country’s progress and prosperity.”

Finalising candidates for National Assembly and provincial assemblies as well as women-reserved seats was one of the toughest jobs he had ever done.

“My wife Bushra even told me that she saw me age over the past three week,” he said on a lighter note.



He said that he had spent 21 years of his life in the field and what he learnt about competition was ‘never underestimate your opponents’.

Commenting on the selection of prospective candidates for women-reserved seats, the PTI chief said the first thing his party would do after coming to power was holding a “fair intra-party election” and women winning those polls would be given party tickets for reserved seats in future.

He said that Pakistanis should appreciate the divine opportunity to change their destinies and create a new Pakistan for themselves and their future generations.

In Pakistan, laws were not uniformly applicable to the rich and the poor, the latter even deprived of basic necessities of life, he said.

Khan alleged that the Sharif family had been “caught red-handed” but they were still out of jail, maligning state institutions, just because they were rich and powerful.

Jails, he said, were filled with just poor people. “There are as many as 32 FIRs against me. If they could do such an injustice to me, just think what happens with the poor in the country,” he said.



Members of the ruling elite who wield considerable clout went abroad even for their routine medical check-ups. This, he said, was because they failed to develop even a single state-of-the-art hospital.

All PTI activists should ask PPP and PML-N voters in their respective constituencies why their leaders had not built one such modern and well-equipped hospital where they could go to get treatment. He said that thousands of children died because of water-borne diseases.

“Now is the time for change. Pakistan is blessed with all possible resources and it only lacks good governance,” he said.

If the PTI was voted into government, it would enhance tax collection by building up taxpayers confidence, said Khan, adding that the next PTI government would root out corruption by strengthening state institutions and formulating necessary legislation to protect whistleblowers.