Umerkot meeting: Imran vows to free rural folk from tyranny
Says performance of K-P govt will help draw other provinces to PTI
PTI Chairman Imran Khan. PHOTO: REUTERS.
HYDERABAD/KARACHI:
Imran Khan has promised to help free the rural folk of Sindh from the tyranny of feudal lords and corrupt police officials.
Addressing his second public meeting in Umerkot district after February 2012, Imran offered the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) as a political alternative to the people of Sindh, promising a new Pakistan especially for the rural folk.
He unveiled his vision of empowering rural communities by freeing them from the unwarranted influence of feudal lords and venal police officials.
His visit was organised to shore up support for the PTI candidates contesting the local government election, as well as in connection with Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights. A large number of scheduled caste Hindus live in Umerkot, Tharparkar and the neighbouring districts.
“I dream that private and government schools provide the same standard of education, that the facilities at government hospitals are on a par with those at the Aga Khan hospital and that the police serve and protect the people,” said Imran.
He assailed the leadership of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, claiming that both of them had relegated their parties to provincial level. “The PTI is the only party that can unite the federation. We shall set an example by taking great care of our minorities, by making them equal citizens. This will also make India feel ashamed of its treatment of the minorities.”
Comparing local governments, he said Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa’s was financially independent, while Sindh and Punjab’s were dependent on grants from their respective provincial administrations. “We shall show you the new Pakistan in a transformed K-P. Before long, the other provinces will back the PTI when they witness our performance in K-P.”
PTI Vice Chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi accused the PPP-led Sindh government of carrying out pre-poll rigging by relocating the polling stations. He claimed that 60% of the polling stations in Tharparkar and Umerkot had been changed.
The PTI is participating in the LG election in the two districts in an alliance with former Sindh chief minister Arbab Ghulam Rahim’s faction of the PML and some other religious and nationalist parties. Votes will be cast on November 19 as a part of the second phase of LG poll in 15 districts of the province.
Earlier, the PTI chief had received a warm welcome in Jamshoro on his arrival from Karachi. He also addressed public meetings in Hyderabad, Tando Allahyar and Mirpurkhas on his way to Umerkot.
Talking to the media at the Karachi airport, Imran had accused the Sindh administration of using the government machinery and the police to influence the election results. He claimed that the LG system introduced in Sindh would offer all the power only to the CM.
According to party sources, the PTI chief has planned to lead the campaign for the LG poll in Karachi.
Meanwhile, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari joined Tharparkar’s scheduled caste Hindu community in their Diwali celebrations. He, however, used much of his time criticising his political adversaries.
From Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to PM Nawaz Sharif to Imran, he spared no one. He lambasted the PML-N and the PTI for “acting as enemies in Punjab and friends in Sindh”.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 13th, 2015.
Imran Khan has promised to help free the rural folk of Sindh from the tyranny of feudal lords and corrupt police officials.
Addressing his second public meeting in Umerkot district after February 2012, Imran offered the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) as a political alternative to the people of Sindh, promising a new Pakistan especially for the rural folk.
He unveiled his vision of empowering rural communities by freeing them from the unwarranted influence of feudal lords and venal police officials.
His visit was organised to shore up support for the PTI candidates contesting the local government election, as well as in connection with Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights. A large number of scheduled caste Hindus live in Umerkot, Tharparkar and the neighbouring districts.
“I dream that private and government schools provide the same standard of education, that the facilities at government hospitals are on a par with those at the Aga Khan hospital and that the police serve and protect the people,” said Imran.
He assailed the leadership of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, claiming that both of them had relegated their parties to provincial level. “The PTI is the only party that can unite the federation. We shall set an example by taking great care of our minorities, by making them equal citizens. This will also make India feel ashamed of its treatment of the minorities.”
Comparing local governments, he said Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa’s was financially independent, while Sindh and Punjab’s were dependent on grants from their respective provincial administrations. “We shall show you the new Pakistan in a transformed K-P. Before long, the other provinces will back the PTI when they witness our performance in K-P.”
PTI Vice Chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi accused the PPP-led Sindh government of carrying out pre-poll rigging by relocating the polling stations. He claimed that 60% of the polling stations in Tharparkar and Umerkot had been changed.
The PTI is participating in the LG election in the two districts in an alliance with former Sindh chief minister Arbab Ghulam Rahim’s faction of the PML and some other religious and nationalist parties. Votes will be cast on November 19 as a part of the second phase of LG poll in 15 districts of the province.
Earlier, the PTI chief had received a warm welcome in Jamshoro on his arrival from Karachi. He also addressed public meetings in Hyderabad, Tando Allahyar and Mirpurkhas on his way to Umerkot.
Talking to the media at the Karachi airport, Imran had accused the Sindh administration of using the government machinery and the police to influence the election results. He claimed that the LG system introduced in Sindh would offer all the power only to the CM.
According to party sources, the PTI chief has planned to lead the campaign for the LG poll in Karachi.
Meanwhile, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari joined Tharparkar’s scheduled caste Hindu community in their Diwali celebrations. He, however, used much of his time criticising his political adversaries.
From Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to PM Nawaz Sharif to Imran, he spared no one. He lambasted the PML-N and the PTI for “acting as enemies in Punjab and friends in Sindh”.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 13th, 2015.