TAXILA: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan said on Friday that his party’s planned march in Raiwind was a bid to take the matter of leaked Panama Papers to its logical conclusion.

He was addressing a public meeting at the Railway Park here. The meeting was organised in connection with the by-elections on the Punjab Assembly seat PP-7 for which the PTI has fielded Ammar Sadeeq Khan.

Imran Khan said the rulers should not remain in any delusion, adding that the PTI would not compromise on the Panama Papers issue and would not allow anyone to set aside the matter.

He said the PTI was ready for what he called a solo flight for the Raiwind march if other opposition parties would not take part in it. He warned the Punjab government and PML-N workers against stopping PTI workers from taking part in the Raiwind march.

He said corruption was a cancer for society and without eliminating corruption the country could not be put on the path of development. He called for strengthening of institutions for the elimination of corruption from the country. Not resources but justice could lead a country towards development and prosperity, he added.

PTI chief warns Punjab government, PML-N workers against putting hurdles for his party workers

The PTI chairman criticised the PML-N government, saying that due to wrong policies of the government foreign investment in the country was at its lowest ever level. He said during the past eight years the condition of peasants had gone from bad to worse.

He said the Taxila by-polls would prove to be a referendum against the PML-N government.

Talking about the ongoing session of the United Nations  General Assembly, Mr Khan asked world leaders to take notice of human rights violations by Indian forces in held Kashmir.

He paid tribute to Kashmiris for their struggle against the Indian occupation and said the whole Pakistani nation stood with them.

In his address, PTI senior leader Shah Mehmood Qureshi criticised the government for trying to delay investigation into the Panama Papers issue.

He warned the Indian government against thinking about surgical strikes inside Pakistan, adding that India would have to pay a heavy price for it.

He said Pakistan would continue moral and diplomatic support to the people of Kashmir.

Iftikhar A Khan adds from Islamabad: In a press conference on Friday, the interior minister lambasted the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for its failure to implement its own decisions. He said he could not go to his constituency in Taxila where by-elections on a provincial assembly seat are due to take place on Sept 26.

He, however, said his political opponents were free to do whatever they wanted and the PTI chief even addressed a rally in the constituency flouting a bar on him being a member of the National Assembly.

He said the ban on public office holders from visiting the constituency where elections were to be held should not be one-sided. “Why do you announce something which you cannot implement?” he said.

He pointed out that Mr Khan had flouted the ECP’s ban in Cheecha­watni as well but no action had been taken against him. “This ban should not be one-sided,” he stressed.

Published in Dawn September 24th, 2016