PTI chief wasting nation’s time: Hamza

Says Imran Khan has a habit of criticising everything done by the ruling party

LAHORE:

Imran Khan has wasted two and a half years of the Pakistani nation over politics of accusations and sit-ins, said Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Hamza Shahbaz while addressing the concluding rally of his party on Friday before the October 11 by-polls in NA-122 of Lahore.

Speaking to PML-N supporters at Dongi Ground in Samanabad, he accused the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chairman of shutting down cities for his politics while the prime minister was trying to make the country prosperous.



The political campaign for tomorrow’s by-election ended midnight with the ruling party putting up an impressive show at the same venue where Nawaz Sharif delivered his final speech before the election campaign concluded in May 2013 general elections.

Hamza, who is the son of Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, lashed out at the PTI chief for his habit of criticising everything done by the ruling party.

“When the daughter of a poor man travels in metro safely, Imran gets hurt,” he said, pointing to the oft-repeated criticism of the metro bus service launched by the PML-N in Lahore and Rawalpindi.

He added that metro buses would be introduced in Multan as well while Lahore would soon get metro trains. “This all is being done to serve the people of Pakistan,” he proclaimed.

“Imran’s sit-in got the visit of Chinese President cancelled, but Nawaz Sharif didn’t accept his party’s resignations to keep them in the assembly,” Hamza said, referring to the eight-month absence of the PTI from the legislatures.

He alleged that in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, where the PTI held sway, money reserved for energy projects was being used for gambling. “The PML-N has established peace in Karachi,” he boasted. “It was Imran Khan who wanted an office of the Taliban opened.”

Hamza said Imran contested the election in NA-122 against Sardar Ayaz Sadiq in May 2013 but had now run away in the by-polls and fielded Aleem Khan, whom he referred to as a “land grabber”.

“Ayaz Sadiq is a thorough gentleman while Aleem Khan is a land grabber who has many cases against him,” he alleged.

Listing his government’s achievements, the PML-N leader said the foreign reserves of the country had touched $20 billion and an investment of $45 billion was coming to Pakistan. He said PM Nawaz had won praise from all over the world for highlighting the Kashmir issue in the UN.

Addressing the procession, Federal Railways Minister Saad Rafique called Imran Khan an “international vagabond”. “While he is playing and enjoying, PML-N leaders are busy in getting Pakistan out of dictatorship’s darkness,” he said.

Taking a jibe at the PTI chief, he said Imran had termed the National Assembly fake and was now asking for votes to go into the same assembly. “People gave 34 seats to PTI but Imran insulted the people’s mandate and quit the assembly to do sit-ins,” he said.

The PML-N candidate on NA-122, Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, said Imran was defeated in the previous elections but made it into a matter of ego. “If money could win elections, I would have never won,” he said. “People of this constituency cannot be impressed with the glitter of ill-gotten money.”

A large number of people turned up at the PML-N’s procession in Samanabad, which has been a stronghold of the ruling party.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 10^th, 2015