ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan has said he is going to Larkana on Friday to challenge PPP Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari.

Addressing the participants of his party’s sit-in at D-Chowk here on Thursday, the PTI chief said it was the sixth term of the PPP government in Sindh and alleged that its leaders had become billionaire by using Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s name.

He said there was no doubt that the late Bhutto was a great leader who had raised the slogan of ‘roti, kapra aur makan’ for poor people and struggled for their rights, but unfortunately his dreams remained unfulfilled. Mr Khan claimed that the PTI would complete this ‘unfinished’ agenda and empower Sindhi people.

“I should have started my campaign in Sindh much earlier, but still it is not too late and perhaps it is the right time to provide alternative leadership to Sindhi people,” he said, adding that educated people, labourers and farmers all wanted change and that was why “I am going to Larkana”.

He said the Larkana meeting would be a huge gathering, adding that all his earlier predictions about the number of participants in PTI’s meetings in different cities had proved to be correct. He said people would come to support his party because they knew that the PTI could challenge the feudal class.

Mr Khan blamed the governments of Nawaz Sharif and Zardari for bad governance and devaluation of the rupee which he said had resulted in inflation. He said people like Finance Minister Ishaq Dar were responsible for depreciation of the rupee. They keep their money in foreign accounts and when the dollar gained strength their wealth automatically increased. On the other hand, he said, inflation had made the life of common people miserable with their purchasing power going down with each passing day.

Published in Dawn, November 21st, 2014