September 20, 2002	Friday	Rajab 12, 1423

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ISLAMABAD, Sept 19: Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaaf (PTI) on Thursday launched its election manifesto with major focus being on freeing the judiciary from administrative control and ensuring that no citizen was deprived of justice and no political exploiter was able to victimize anyone for his personal and political gains.

Unveiling salient features of the manifesto, Imran Khan said: “We want to rid the poor masses of the coercion of the government as in present state, all the institutions were sucking the blood of their own people and they were made to serve them instead of they serving the people.

“Our first and foremost task after returning to power, he said would be to reshape the judicial system by enormously enhancing the emoluments of judges changing the mode of their appointment/promotion and freeing them of the administrative influence in making their independent judgments”.

He said western world’s success lay in their independent judiciary but in our case the predominant feudal hierarchy occupying the power seat never allowed the judicial system to work independently and to provide remedy to the poor and less privileged ones.

Imran said, we would lower the size and quantum of taxation particularly end personal income tax to give the people direct relief and enhance Zakat contribution through its judicious utilization of providing the people free health and education.

A national level commission would be set up to overlook the political victimization of the people by certain feudal politicians.

Under an independent judiciary alone, he said the downtrodden could get remedy specially the labourers in Pakistan, who were most exploited workforce in the world.

An independent election commission would be constituted to stop corrupt politicians from returning to power, once condemned by the courts. He said biggest task ahead of his party would be to end the shameless era of feudal influence in power politics.

Another area of attention for his party, he said would be to make the increasing population a national asset by providing them labour intensive businesses.

The PTI would declare an emergency in education to promote education for all by calling out retired army and civil bureaucrats and educated youth to first prepare a common and most advanced syllabus and then spread education to every youth. Compulsory and free education would be provided to female students up to matriculation, he said.

“Our foreign policy would be realistic and based on self esteem and not accept conditionalities imposed by the IMF and World Bank and instead take steps for eradicating poverty, which they have promoted through cutting financing in recession period”, Imran said.

To achieve maximization of foreign exchange reserves, he said his party would give maximum incentives to the 3.7 million registered overseas Pakistanis for enhancement of foreign remittances up to three billion US dollars equivalent to the national deficit.

He said his party supported devolution of powers through local councils but the government had politicized these councils by involving them in electioneering.

A cursory look at the PTI manifesto showed that it has touched all the traditional subjects such as interpreting democracy as emptice for all through ensuring rule of law, political and economic sovereignty through ‘Haqooqul Ibad”, economic prosperity through harnessing human capital and natural resources, human development through investing in people, strong federation through provincial autonomy and equitable distribution of resources, international relations subservient to none, good governance meaning efficient and transparent government and security meaning complete protection of life and prosperity.