MUZAFFARABAD: PTI leader Imran Khan asked the people of Pakistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) on Thursday to raise their voices if they want public money spent on their welfare and not towards adding to the wealth of corrupt leaders.

“There will not be any change unless the people of Pakistan and Kashmir stand up against corrupt rulers,” he said at a public rally in Bhimber.

Just ten years ago, the PTI leader said, every Pakistani owed Rs33,000 in debts and that amount has risen to Rs120,000.

He alleged that in the last three years, the PML-N government had taken out Rs5 trillion in loans which is the same amount as the total debt Pakistan had accumulated until 10 years ago.

“Where did this money go? Was it spent on the people,” he asked and then went on to answer himself by saying that the money had gone into bank accounts of leaders and towards purchasing apartments in London.

Talking about JUI-F leader Maulana Fazlur Rehman, the PTI leader said: “I respect religious scholars but not the ones who use Islam for politics and sell their conscience for diesel permits.”

That Mr Rehman had come forward to the prime minister’s aid was a sign that Mr Sharif is in serious trouble, he said.

The PTI chief said that the prime minister had lied in parliament by saying that he had bought the apartments 10 years ago when documents had shown that they were purchased long before that.

“When the prime minister of a nation is corrupt, its patwari cannot be honest. Corruption is eliminated from the top down and not the other way round,” he added.

“The people of the country will have to come forward to protect their money because no one else will do this for them,” he said.

After winning AJK polls, Mr Khan said, PTI will set up an independent and authoritative accountability body in the region, which will hold everyone to account, however powerful they may be. Show original message

Published in Dawn, May 20th, 2016