PTI chief Imran Khan at a party gathering. — White Star
PTI chief Imran Khan at a party gathering. — White Star

LAHORE: Bucking up his party’s Punjab leadership for the much-hyped Sept 3 ‘accountability movement’ procession in Lahore, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan said the time has come for the nation to decide whether to continue being chained under a corrupt leadership or they want a truthful and honest leadership.

Speaking to the Punjab central and west region office-bearers and ticket-holders at a local hotel on Sunday, Mr Khan said the PTI had made corruption its top election agenda and the Panama Leaks further proved that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his family had established offshore companies with no evidence of legal money transfer.

Alleging that the Sharif family was involved in corruption, tax evasion and money laundering, Mr Khan said the PTI would file a writ petition in the Supreme Court against the prime minister on Monday (today). He said the PTI would also show its mass power in Lahore on Sept 3 and formally send delegations to invite all opposition parties for joining the rally.


Party chairman says next strategy to be announced in Sept 3 address


Mr Khan said the PML-N was delaying finalising the terms of reference (ToR) to avoid holding PM Nawaz and his family accountable. Criticising Nawaz for not resigning gracefully like the prime ministers of Iceland and Britain, Mr Khan claimed Mr Sharif also gave false statements in parliament, which should lead to him being de-seated.

Addressing PML-N workers, Mr Khan said they all knew about Nawaz Sharif and his family’s corruption and must persuade them to respond to the allegations. He said the PML-N government made lowest investment on human development in the country’s history and compelled the poor to pay almost 85pc of the government’s revenue through indirect taxes.

The PTI chairman condemned what he called state-supported terrorism while referring to the killing of two party workers during local government elections as well as complainant of the murder. He said slain worker Mirza Tanvir’s wife and children claimed MNA Hamza Shahbaz had called the complainant to Model Town but he refused to go. Referring to PAT workers’ killing, he said the PML-N was also spreading terrorism and had become more or less a terrorist party like the Muttahida Qaumi Movement.

Mr Khan said he would announce the party’s next strategy in his Sept 3 address.

“We must ensure that the public institutions work independently and honestly to dispense justice to masses instead of becoming slaves to the rulers,” he asserted.

Meanwhile, PTI Core Committee meeting presided over by the chairman decided the party would exhaust all legal and constitutional options, including Supreme Court and Election Commission of Pakistan, to compel the rulers to present themselves for accountability.

The committee decided that the PTI would not end its accountability movement till transparent investigations into Panama Leaks were launched and instead planned to step up the protest campaign.

The meeting also deliberated the option of taking next month’s procession inside the city instead of restricting it to The Mall only. A final decision in this regard would be made in the party’s strategy committee meeting on Monday (today).

Published in Dawn, August 29th, 2016

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