SHEIKHUPURA: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan said on Sunday that if his party came to power after the next general elections it would eliminate corruption from the country.

“I need only 200 honest people to be appointed as heads of various departments to change the fate of the country,” he said while addressing a public meeting at the hockey ground here.

Citing the example of the former inspector general of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police, Nasir Durrani, the PTI chief said he had changed the policing culture in the province because he was an honest man. If a similar person was appointed chairman of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) he could take action against all corrupt people without any fear, he added.

The PTI chief expressed gratitude for the warm welcome he received by the people of Sheikhupura. He said about four years ago when he had visited the city he could only find a few people at his meeting, but was astonished to see this huge gathering on Sunday.

Before commencing his speech, Mr Khan took the Sheikhupura deputy commissioner (DC) to task for not granting permission to his party to hold its public meeting inside the stadium. He said the property was neither owned by Shahbaz Sharif nor DC Arqam Tariq. He warned the DC of teaching him a lesson after coming into power.

PTI leader vows to root out corruption

Formally beginning his address, Mr Khan said the Sharif brothers had spread propaganda against him by calling him Zionist, but now so many religious party activists had taken to the streets against the Sharif brothers on the issue of amendment in the law relating to the Khatm-i-Nubuwat oath.

The deserving and unprivileged people of the country were facing hardships due to the policies of the government. The PTI, after coming to power, would correct all these wrongdoings and provide equal opportunities to every citizen of the country.

The PTI chief lashed out at former president Asif Ali Zardari and the Sharif brothers, whom he claimed had damaged the country.

Shedding light on his plans if his party was voted to power, Mr Khan said his party’s government would provide equal opportunities to all religious minorities whether they were Christians, Hindus, Sikhs or others. Disqualified premier Nawaz Sharif had plundered Rs300 billion and stashed it abroad, but nobody questioned him over his corruption. The PTI would bring back all the money if people voted it to power, he vowed.

The PTI, he claimed, would also improve the education system by appointing competent and qualified people to run academic institutions.

Published in Dawn, December 11th, 2017