MANSEHRA: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf chairman Imran Khan has said both deposed prime minister Nawaz Sharif and Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif were corrupt and plundered the national wealth.

“Nawaz Sharif was ousted by the Supreme Court for plundering national wealth but his crime is even bigger than that as you shifted the plunders abroad,” he told a public meeting in Baffa area here on Monday.

The PTI chief declared Shahbaz Sharif a big liar saying the Punjab chief minister is in the habit of appearing in different getups and styles to deceive people.

“Whenever it rains, he (Punjab CM) wears long shoes and jumps into rainwater, while in the hot summer days, he comes out wearing a hat,” he said.

Mr Imran asked the crowd if the Supreme Court’s decision to oust Nawaz Sharif was right. The crowd replied in affirmative shouting ‘yes’.

He alleged that PPP leader Zardari had plundered national wealth.

The PTI chief lauded the performance of his party’s government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa saying the credit for reforms and good governance goes to Chief Minister Pervez Khattak.

“I don’t claim that we have achieved everything we’d wished for, but one thing is clear that we (KP government) are striving to turn around the outdated system in the province,” he said.

PTI chief claims his party will sweep next polls

He briefly addressed women workers and a party meeting in Mansehra city before leaving for Baffa, the native town of his former wife, Reham Khan.

The PTI chief also addressed the party’s women workers at the house of PTI district president Babar Saleem Swati.

He said he was confident that the PTI would form the national and provincial governments after sweeping the next general elections thanks to the effective role played by women workers.

“The coming elections will determine if the people want Naya Pakistan or that old corrupt system,” he said.

Mr Imran also addressed a gathering at Khatm-i-Nabuwat Chowk and said ousted prime minster had stolen over Rs30 billion in Pakistan before shifting it into his bank accounts abroad.

In Haripur, too, the PTI chairman addressed party workers in the day as part of the PTI’s membership campaign.

He said only his party could ensure national unity and turn the country into a true public welfare state.

“Those who have ruled the country in the last 20 years failed to reform a single institution and looted the taxpayers’ money before stashing it in their foreign bank accounts instead of spending on the people’s development,” he said in a veiled reference to the rivals, PML-N and PPP.

The PTI chief said the PML-N and PPP had destroyed national institutions and national economy to the extent that Rs1,000 billion was stolen and illegally shifted out of the country annually.

In Abbottabad, Mr Imran said the coming elections would change the destiny of the nation.

“The country’s future is attached to the 2018 elections when the people will decide if they want real development or not,” he said.

Accompanied by Chief Minister Pervez Khattak, provincial ministers and lawmakers and party leaders, the PTI chief said his party would win the next elections to bring about a real change in the people’s life.

He said the PTI government had reformed the health, education, police and forest departments in the province.

Mr Imran said the troika of PML-N’s Nawaz Sharif, PPP’s Asif Ali Zardari and JUI-F’s Maulana Fazlur Rehman was more harmful to the country than anyone else.

He said he looked to the youths for help in making the ‘Naya Pakistan’ by defeating ‘political mafia’.

Published in Dawn, March 27th, 2018