Appeal to army: PTI chairman seeks anti-graft action in Punjab

Calls for third-party audit of Nandipur, other projects

ISLAMABAD:

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan on Monday invited the military to extend its accountability action to Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa following anti-graft operations by Sindh Rangers earlier.

At the same time, Imran observed that neither the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) nor the Khursheed Shah-led Public Accounts Committee (PAC) had been able to hold corrupt leaders to account.

Conversely, he said, the military – through the Rangers in Sindh – had managed to cripple the wheeling and dealing between the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N). He added that during his recent visit to Sindh, he saw the people were happy that the corrupt were being arrested.

“Nawaz Sharif is helpless now since he cannot help [Asif Ali] Zardari, because the army is now directly leading the operation against corrupt elements,” said Imran while referring to the recent arrest in Karachi of Dr Asim Hussain, a senior PPP leader and a close confidante of the PPP co-chairman.

Due to the army’s action against corruption and terror financing, Imran said that “army chief General Raheel Sharif’s popularity is reaching new heights in the country.”

The PTI chief added that when the Rangers targeted corruption of the PPP and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement in Karachi, both parties began clamouring for help. The failure of the latter’s strike in Karachi on Saturday showed how the situation in the metropolis was improving.



“I urge the Rangers and agencies to go to Punjab and investigate the mega scams taking place there.”

Imran, who appeared in a jovial mood, demanded neutral and third-party audits into the Nandipur power plant, LNG and Metro Bus scams in Punjab. He also held Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif responsible for failure of the power project.

“We want a third-party audit on international level, unlike the investigation of the Model Town massacre.”

While noting that they already had an independent accountability commission, Imran invited the military to conduct an operation against the corrupt in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.

Ziaullah Afridi booted out

In a landmark move, Imran publicly terminated the party membership of former K-P minister for mines and minerals Ziaullah Afridi.

He added that Afridi had started hurling allegations against other PTI leaders which was tantamount to blackmailing.

The PTI chief went on to say said that as many as 57 party leaders, including Senator Azam Swati, MPA Yasin Khalil and Arif Yousaf were under investigation for breach of party discipline during the recent local bodies’ elections and that a decision on their future was expected in the next two days.

“If charges against them are proven, they will be expelled from the party.”

While rejecting claims of awarding tickets to relatives, Imran said he had a list of all those members who had awarded tickets to their relatives and that strict action would be taken against them.

Protest against ECP

Pleading for the resignation of four members of the Election Commission of Pakistan ahead of the local government polls in Punjab and Sindh, the PTI chief said political parties no longer had any confidence in those members. “We have no confidence in them after it has emerged that they had played a role in manipulating the 2013 elections, but they are so shameless that they do not resign.”

 

Published in The Express Tribune, September 15^th, 2015.