LAHORE: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan is of the view that a mafia is controlling Pakistan and will continue doing so if people did not realise it and express their anger through votes in the general elections.

The Sharif brothers are looting the nation in the name of democracy, said Mr Khan while speaking at a protest rally by opposition parties led by Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) on The Mall on Wednesday.

Mr Khan was greeted by a large number of party workers who were earlier not present at the venue. The party’s women workers however had arrived much before leaders started to speak.

The PTI chief alleged that disqualified prime minister Nawaz Sharif had looted and laundered Rs300 billion abroad but parliament still supported him in getting re-elected as a political party head. Nawaz was constantly reprimanding the judiciary and the Punjab Assembly also came to his rescue and passed a resolution against the Supreme Court verdict that “ousted” Sharif, he added.

Calling victims of the 2014 Model Town incident Pakistanis instead of PAT workers, Khan alleged that Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif himself directed police heads to open fire on the protesters. He said the killers were not arrested even after four years because the accused were none other than Nawaz and Shahbaz Sharif. “Crime happens everywhere, but civilised societies immediately get hold of the culprits and punish them to create deterrence,” he asserted.

The PTI chief said the Sharif brothers had politicised and corrupted the police to use it against their opponents. Quoting former Punjab inspector general Abbas Khan’s statement in court, he said the Sharif brothers had not only recruited police out of merit but inducted known criminals to target opponents.

In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, he said, the PTI had depoliticised the police and given it a free hand to check crime.

He challenged Shahbaz to visit Mardan and speak against the police in public, saying people would humiliate the Punjab CM.

Mr Khan said the PTI would continue standing with PAT chief Dr Tahirul Qadri to seek justice for the 14 Model Town victims.

Published in Dawn, January 18th, 2018