ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan said Tuesday that his party would continue with the scheduled protest march to the capital despite the prime minister’s appeal to launch a judicial probe into rigging allegations.
Imran was speaking at a press conference shortly after Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif addressed the nation.
During his televised speech, Nawaz requested the Supreme Court to form a commission to investigate alleged irregularities in the 2013 general elections.
Imran claimed that no investigation into election results could be conducted transparently under Nawaz Sharif.
“As long as Nawaz Sharif is in government, what will the judicial commission do? It is your government…you will go against officers who investigate you. You will use the police to your advantage,” he said.
The PTI chairman demanded that Nawaz Sharif step down from the premiership.
“Nawaz should resign when the judicial commission is formed, otherwise justice will not be served,” he said.
Referring to the premier’s speech, he said: “It felt odd that he was speaking to me in such a familiar manner. I felt that I should also reach out. But I want to tell my country something. This is not my personal issue with Nawaz Sharif. It is a clash of two ideologies.”.
“We know what his (Sharif’s) governance style is. Whenever he has come into government, the rich gets richer and the poor gets poorer. No democracy allows a government to mint money while it is in power,” he said.
“These achievements he has spoken of have only come to his family. This [government] has had the poorest economic performance,” said Imran, hitting back at Nawaz.
“They say there is no corruption, but they know the art of corruption. Look at the Nandipur project as an example. Their development advertisements alone have cost the country Rs10million,” he said.
“If I am told there is rigging in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, I will order re-election. I am confident we will have a bigger victory,” he claimed.
