PTI chief says his party believes in empowering the common people. PHOTO: AFP
“This is in fact a contest between outworn thinking and acting as a catalyst for change by empowering the downtrodden in the country,” he said in his remarks while addressing the second election meeting of his party’s candidate Dr Raja Amir Zaman in the August 16 by-election, in Panian, the native village of Reham Khan’s mother.
The PTI chief said that he is struggling to bring about a positive change in the governing system of the country, recalling that his party had already proved itself by depoliticising police, reforming revenue, education and accountability system in K-P.
Read: Reham Khan seizes the steering wheel
The K-P government, he pointed out, has devolved power to the village level, leaving the masses at the disposal of village councils. “Now the police would be answerable to the district assembly and teachers to the village councils and provincial headquarters Peshawar would have no role in it.”
Citing an example of former provincial minister Ziaullah Afridi, accused in corruption cases, Imran said that his government in K-P has proved it beyond doubt that it believes in accountability of everyone across the board.
In contrast, he claimed, the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) issued tickets to criminals who join politics to cover up their misdeeds and illegal activities. “Police protect criminals in Punjab.”
The PTI chairman cited another report that former IG Police Punjab Abbas Khan submitted in the Lahore High Court in 1992 confessing that hiring in the police department was made by violating merit and that all were done on the instructions of the than prime minister, Nawaz Sharif.
“When policemen are hired on the recommendation of politicians or after bribes, they will certainly use force against the poor as was witnessed in the Model Town firing case and now in Kasur”, he said accusing the PML-N of spoiling the system in the country especially in Punjab where it has ruled for over three decades.
Calling Premier Nawaz Sharif and his family corrupt, Imran said that until a few years ago the first family had a single Ittefaq Foundry and owed Rs3.5 billion to the banks but now they have become multibillionaires and PM Nawaz’s son was living in a house which is valued at Rs7 billion in London.
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Later, the PTI chief addressed another election meeting in Ghazi tehsil; which was the fourth-one in the last two days while his wife Reham Khan spoke at over a half-a-dozen public gatherings during the last three days in Haripur.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 11th, 2015.
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