KARACHI: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf chief Imran Khan insisted on Wednesday that he was not against the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) but opposed their leaders Nawaz Sharif and Asif Ali Zardari because the two were responsible for promoting a “culture of corruption” in the country.

Talking to journalists at the airport here before leaving for Islamabad, he resolved to fight the two leaders with all the force at his command.

Mr Khan alleged that in order to protect their interests, both Mr Sharif and Mr Zardari had appointed their “favourites” to key positions.

Imran claims charter of democracy has been used to serve interests of the two leaders

“The Charter of Democracy they [the two parties] signed actually turned into a deal between Nawaz Sharif and Asif Ali Zardari,” he said.

“They used this deal to strengthen and protect themselves. How is it possible for leaders of a poor country, which has to take big debts and loans, to become prosperous and their children billionaires? But this has been going on in this country for the past so many years. The country is becoming poorer but its leaders are getting richer by the day.”

He criticised the role played by the PPP as an opposition party and termed the Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly, Syed Khursheed Shah, an aide to Mr Sharif.

The PTI chairman accused Faryal Talpur, a PPP leader and elder sister of Mr Zardari, of taking kickbacks and commissions to buy property in Dubai.

Mr Khan referred to a recent statement of Maryam Nawaz and reiterated that the PML-N leadership had begun a campaign against the country’s armed forces. “No government of any country campaigns against its own armed forces, but here we see this happening [quite often].”

In response to a question about bailable arrest warrants issued by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) against him — which were suspended earlier in the day by the Islamabad High Court — Mr Khan questioned the commission’s role in the recent by-election for NA-120.

“Under which authority does it [ECP] proceed in the contempt of court case?” he asked. “The ECP has failed to execute its primary job which is to hold fair and transparent elections, but it appears [to be] quite active when it comes to moving against the PTI. I ask them, where were they when our candidate Dr Yasmin Rashid was complaining about irregularities in NA-120? They should also tell me what crime have I committed for which they have issued the warrants.”

Mr Khan lashed out at Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi over the latter’s statement about “putting our own house in order”. The premier’s statement, he said, had put the country in an embarrassing position because it amounted to admitting mistakes.

Published in Dawn, September 21st, 2017