ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan has claimed that the PTI, with its representation in all federating units, has replaced Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) as the “party of the federation”.

“The PTI is the only party which is a party of the federation and it wants to unite the provinces,” he said at a party convention held here on Saturday to mark the eighth anniversary of the founding day of the Insaf Students Federation (ISF), the student wing of the PTI.

“Earlier, it was said ‘Benazir Charon Soobon Ki Zanjeer’ (Benazir is a chain linking the four provinces). Now the PTI is the Zanjeer (chain) linking the federating units,” Mr Khan said, referring to the popular PPP slogan.

Calling the People’s Party chairman “Baby Bilawal”, he said the PPP chief should keep in mind that no-one could become a leader simply by standing along with the pictures of his grandfather and mother.

He accused the government of hiding facts from the nation about the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), alleging that the rulers wanted to see a large part of the corridor passing through Punjab.

He said that CPEC was a golden opportunity for economic uplift of Pakistan and forging unity in the country. But, he alleged, the rulers were committing excesses with the less-developed areas because they wanted to see industry flourishing in Punjab.

The PTI chief advised the rulers to give priority to Balochistan in the CPEC project. He warned that the country would become weaker if the first route of the CPEC was built in Punjab.

Reiterating his previous stance, Mr Khan said he had always opposed the use of force against the Taliban. He said he was called “Taliban Khan” in the past for his demand to hold talks with the Taliban but now the entire world was calling for a dialogue with them.

Published in Dawn, November 15th, 2015