IPP leaders regret missed chances during PTI govt

The top leadership of the Istehkam-e-Pakistan Party (IPP) expressed regrets that the dream of making a ‘Naya Pakistan’ could not be materialised and blamed former prime minister Imran Khan’s “selfishness” and wrong policies for it.

IPP Chairman Jahangir Tareen, President Aleem Khan, Secretary General Aamir Mehmood Kiani and others accused Imran of deliberately ignoring the corruption of his own household and punishing those who had sincerely worked for his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).

When the PTI formed the government in 2018, Imran Khan had promised to make a Naya Pakistan. After the dismissal of PTI government and the violence on May 9 several PTI leaders quit the party. Many of them regrouped and formed a new party, the IPP, under disgruntled PTI leader Jahangir Tareen.

“In 2011, we joined the PTI to create Naya Pakistan, but it could not be created,” Tareen said, while addressing a public gathering in Taxila, where former federal minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan joined the IPP ranks. “Now we will all come together and make the Naya Pakistan a reality,” he added.

Tareen said that Pakistan was a great country, but all it needed was a competent leadership. He asked all the political parties to compete with each other but do not fight. He also asked those joining the party to think big and have lofty ideals to take Pakistan where it could not go in the last 75 years.

Speaking on the occasion, IPP President Aleem Khan said that they tried their best for the creation of the Naya Pakistan, which was possible, but the PTI leader was not sincere. “The PTI chairman [Imran Khan] is a person who was not sincere even with his own children,” he charged.

“But when he got the chance, he took action against us. He unleashed propaganda against Tareen and even the women of his family. He lodged two cases against my daughter,” he charged. “He used to tell us about the State of Madinah but in fact money was being stashed in his coffer at home,” he added.

“Isn’t it surprising that a house where money is coming in but the head of the house does not know? Rs80 billion was spent on Peshawar BRT [Bus Rapid Transport], there were hardly a million trees planted under the Billion Tree Tsunami,” he added.

IPP General Secretary Kayani said that the PTI chairman became the prime minister for which he tried for 28 years. He added that Tareen never spoke against the PTI chief in the last four years. “Despite leaving the PTI, his donations for the Shaukat Khanum hospital did not stop.”

Addressing a public gathering after officially joining the IPP, former federal minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan said that it was a pity that they could not create a Naya prosperous Pakistan. He condemned the violence on May 9. “Pakistan was shaken. We condemn the May 9 tragedy,” he said.