LARKANA: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan said on Friday his party was not in favour of construction of Kalabagh dam and division of Sindh.

Addressing a large public meeting in Aliabad, near Larkana, he criticised the government’s performance and said he saw 2015 as an election year and that “change has become inevitable”.

He said Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and former president Asif Ali Zardari were supporting each other for status quo and not democracy, adding that he would take their wickets with one ball. People are ready for elections in the country.

He said the Sindh Assembly’s resolution against his remarks about the people of the province was a proof of his “good work”. He explained that he had called Sindh people slaves because they had been deprived of their basic rights, including health and education. Out of every three ghost schools in the country, two are in Sindh. At present, he said, six million children in the province were out of school.

He said the people in Sindh were not getting proper health facilities, jobs were not given on merit and favouritism was evident in transfers and postings. When someone raised voice for their rights, they faced fake FIRs and did not get justice, he said. “This is sufficient to reflect priorities of the Sindh government.”

The PTI chief said his party was against the construction of Kalabagh dam without Sindh’s consent, adding that no reservoir should be built against the wishes of the people of Sindh. He also said the PTI would not allow Sindh’s division.

He accused the prime minister of not fulfilling the promises he had made about foreign loans and other issues.

Mr Khan said the PTI would devolve power to the grassroots level and introduce a local government system under which the rich and the poor would be equal in the eyes of law.

He said the PPP had come to power for the sixth time, but failed to change the living conditions of Sindhi people. How the people of Sindh could believe that if voted to power again the PPP would bring about a change in their lives, he asked.

The Sharif and Zardari families are getting richer and the underprivileged poorer with each passing day. “Is this what they call democracy?”

The PTI chief said he had awakened the people of Punjab and now it was the turn of the people of Sindh to open their eyes and hold their fate in their hands. He said police had failed to protect the life and property of people and political interference in the affairs of police department was common in Sindh.

Unlike Sindh, police in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were following merit and protecting people’s life, he claimed. “No fake FIR is lodged in KP.”

The Sindh government had received Rs500 billion under the National Finance Commission (NFC) award, the PTI chief said, wondering where this huge amount had been utilised.

He said Larkana resembled Moenjodaro despite the fact that Sindh was rich in natural resources. There were 180 billion tons of coal reserves in Thar, he said, adding that the country could export electricity by constructing coal-based power houses.

He appealed to peasants, students, lawyers, journalists and people belonging to minority communities to join PTI’s sit-in in Islamabad on Nov 30.

Imran Khan said journalists should be paid better salary, recalling that 126 media personnel had died while discharging their duty over the past few years.

He hinted at formulating a policy under which state land would be distributed among peasants if his party was voted to power.

He expressed concern over the migration of Hindus to India and said the PTI supported equal rights for all non-Muslim communities. “No one will be allowed to hurt them.”

Mr Khan said his party’s Nov 30 protest would be peaceful and within constitutional limits, warning the prime minister and Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan not to use police against PTI workers. The PTI would present its demands on Nov 30 in line with its future strategy, he added.

He ended his speech with the slogan of “Go Nawaz go”.

PTI Vice Chairman Shah Memhood Qureshi and other party leaders, including Jahangir Tareen and Nadir Akmal Leghari, accused the Sindh government of ignoring people after coming to power. There was corruption in every government department, they alleged.

Earlier, Shafqat Unnar thanked the PTI leaders for visiting his village.

Published in Dawn, November 22th , 2014