PTI must win by-polls to save country: Imran

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman and former prime minister Imran Khan said on Wednesday the candidates of his party in the upcoming by-elections Punjab were contesting against turncoats and the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).

Addressing a public meeting in Layyah, Imran said that they were preparing their polling agents to prevent rigging in the by-elections, stressing that the PTI had to win the polls for the future of the country.

Imran alleged that the chief election commissioner was secretly meeting with Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Maryam Nawaz and Punjab Chief Minister Hamza Shahbaz. “We are preparing our polling agents to stop their rigging,” he said.

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“Election on Sunday will decide the country's future. We have to win the election for the future of the country. We have to save the country from American slavery,” he told the PTI supporters. “Workers will have to go house to house to encourage people to cast vote.”

Imran fired a broadside against the Sharif family, mocking Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif as “crime minister”. Imran said that the family faces corruption cases of Rs16 billion. Since coming to power, he added, the rulers had ended corruption cases worth Rs1,100 billion.

Referring to the economic collapse in Sri Lanka, the PTI chairman said that people like those of the Sharif family were ruling in the island nation. They [the Sri Lankan ruling elite] became billionaires but the country went bankrupt, he added.

The PTI chief feared that Pakistan was heading towards a similar situation that of in Sri Lanka due to the dynastic rule of two families – the Sharifs and the Zardaris. “We are going to suffer the same fate as Sri Lanka,” he warned.

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Imran said that he tried to make the electoral system of Pakistan fairer by introducing the electronic voting machines (EVMs) but it was opposed. “Those in the power, manipulate the elections. They also did not allow [EVMs],” he said.

Talking about his cricket-playing days, Imran said that he defeated the Indian team in India despite having their own umpires. “We will defeat them [rival parties in the Punjab By-election] despite having umpires on their side,” he added.