Fresh goals: No Naya Pakistan sans Naya Karachi, says Imran

Invites residents to vote for his party and help fulfil his dream

KARACHI:

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan appealed to the people of Karachi on Sunday to vote for the bat in the April 23 by-election for the NA-246 (Azizabad) constituency and enable it to transform the city into ‘Naya (New) Karachi’.

Addressing a rally at Shahrah-e-Pakistan, an area considered a part of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) stronghold, Imran said he had come to Karachi to garner support for fulfilling his dream of ‘Naya Pakistan’.



“There was no need for me to come to Karachi for a National Assembly seat. I have come to Karachi because you are needed to form a new Pakistan. Without your support, my dream of Naya Pakistan is incomplete.”

Standing on a pedestrian bridge, clad in a black shalwar-kameez, Imran told the rally that his party had taken the fear out of Karachi – the city where people had asked him to say his prayers before coming.

Before the mid-80s, the PTI chief said, Karachi had been a citadel of progress. “It was the ‘City of Lights’. Its inhabitants excelled in various institutions and even in the sphere of sports. Men from Dubai used to come to Karachi to look for jobs.”

Hitting out at the MQM, he said the financial hub of the country had met its downfall when people started politicking in the name of ‘Mohajir’ and engaged in the politics of arms.

Imran Khan’s wife Reham Khan flashes a victory sign from the stage. PHOTO: EXPRESS

Narrating his experience of listening to the MQM chief speak, Imran said: “Sometimes Altaf Hussain becomes serious, sometimes he starts to cry, sometimes he jokes, sometimes he sings. I said to Rehman Bibi, this is the city where the most educated and dynamic people live; how can they bear to listen to him?”

This prompted the people to clap and cheer. And then Imran told ‘Altaf Bhai’ not to mind because he was speaking the truth. The PTI chief asked him why he had been running his party from London for the past 23 years.

Yemen conflict

Flanked by other PTI leaders – including Jahangir Tareen, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, NA-246 candidate Imran Ismail and also his wife – Imran said he did not want to go to the National Assembly, adding that the only reason he did that was the Yemen issue.

“Eleven years ago, I had said in the assembly not to support the American war. But for the sake of dollars, the corrupt politicians made that war theirs. I came back to the assembly to stop the politicians from getting into this mess again.”

‘PTI doesn’t fear MQM’

Imran Ismail said his party was not scared of the MQM. “Was the quota system eliminated in the city as promised by the MQM? Did targeted killings and lawlessness end?”

Unlike the PTI’s previous rallies in the city, the turnout was low and not more than 10,000 people had showed up.

It was the first time that the PTI had organised a rally in the NA-246 constituency. But, unfortunately, it was marred by chaos and rowdiness.

Excited workers jumped over grilles and pushed and shoved one another, getting close to the stage. Men climbed trees and occupied the women’s seating area.

And as soon as Imran Khan made his way to the rally, the generator supporting the electricity and sound system for the event broke down, plunging the area into darkness. It took at least half an hour before it started functioning again.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 20^th, 2015.