Nawaz can make any compromise to save ill-gotten money: Imran

BAHAWALNAGAR: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan Sunday lambasted Nawaz Sharif saying the former premier could make any compromise to save his ill-gotten money.

Speaking to a rally in Chishtian, the PTI chairman drew parallels between president of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and traitors like Mir Jafar and Mir Sadiq.

"What was the need to amend the Khatm-e-Nabuwat (Finality of Prophethood) declaration and who was to be appeased through it," he questioned.

He demanded the ruling party to explain what pressure was there to amend the law.

“Nawaz only represents one ideology, which is corruption,” said Imran. “He is ready to destroy this country's courts and military to save the Rs300 billion that he looted from this country.”

“Nawaz, you won't be able to save the money you laundered out of Pakistan. We will bring it back to this country.”

The PTI leader also accused Nawaz’s political allies including Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party Chief Mehmood Achakzai — who addressed a rally held by the former prime minister — for only holding on to the ideology of ‘corruption.’

“These people [Nawaz's allies] are standing with him [Nawaz] because they are afraid that if Nawaz is caught and sentenced, then they are going to be the next.”

Coming down hard on the country's Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif, Imran alleged that the former was a legal advisor of a company in the Middle East while he served as the country’s defence minister.

“He held an iqama that bound him to work for the company for at least six to eight hours every day, so the only reason to hold the iqama was to launder money,” Imran alleged.

He requested the National Accountability (NAB) Chairman Justice (R) Javed Iqbal to also investigate the Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal, who according to the PTI chief, holds an iqama issued by an organisation in Saudi Arabia.

“The entire nation has hopes associated with you [Justice (R) Iqbal],” he said. “The Hudaibya Papers Mills case speaks about the corruption of all members of the Nawaz family.”

Responding to an earlier taunt by Nawaz in which he said he could not see any signs of Imran's Naya Khyber Pakhtunkhwa [new Khyber Pakhtunkhwa], Imran said: "My only response to him is that he was able to address the public without the protection of a bullet-proof screen. In the old KP, Nawaz wouldn't have been able to enter the province."

The PTI leader also observed that Nawaz could not address a public rally in Punjab, to question his ouster, without a bullet-proof screen. 

'No political intervention in hiring of KP police' 

Imran congratulated the province’s police for averting a mass murder after a terrorist attack on Peshawar's Agriculture Directorate on Friday left nine people martyred and more than 30 injured.

He stressed that merit-based hiring in the KP police department and elimination of political intervention proved the efficiency of the law enforcement agency.

“If police commandos had not reached the premises within a few minutes of the attack, the nation would have witnessed a massacre similar to the one that happened three years ago at the Army Public School.”

The PTI leader accused the government of misusing the police and forcing it to execute illegal tasks.

“I challenge political opponents to come forward if any fake FIRs have been lodged against them in KP,” Imran said.

“Police work according to the law in KP but the same is not the case in other provinces,” he said, adding that FIRs on charges of terrorism are registered against him in Punjab and for some of his party members in Sindh.

He reiterated that the police cannot protect the common man when the government misuses the force.

“I promise to bring changes to the Punjab police,” he said. Taking a jibe at the Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who brought changes to the force’s uniforms earlier this year, Imran said his party would not merely change its uniforms.

“We won't dress them like postmen. We will bring changes to the law, establish merit, and end political intervention in the hiring of the police force.” 

Lashing out at the ruling party, he alleged that transfers and posting of Punjab police officials are decided at Raiwind — the town that serves as the political base of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif.

“That chutku (little person) Hamza [Shehbaz] and sometimes even Maryam Bibi decide the transfers and postings of police officials” Imran claimed. “The Inspector General of Punjab Police sits before Shehbaz like his personal servant.”

He also claimed that he had not received a single complaint against the KP police in the past four years – after his party formed the government in the province. 

'System based on merit needs to be established'

He stressed that it is very important for Chishtian's youth and women to understand that merit needs to be established in order for this country to progress.

“When Medina state was created, Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) created such a system that for 700 years Muslims became a great power in the world. This system was based on justice and merit,” he said.

Imran accused the PML-N of bringing down profit-making state-owned institutions including the Steel Mills and Pakistan International Airlines. He held the ruling party responsible for rendering thousands of labourers unemployed because of the corrupt practices of a few people in power.

He lamented the country’s poor performance in international sports.

“I fail to understand how Pakistan, which has been a top cricket team in the world, was able to lose in the recent Under-19 series to Afghanistan – a country that barely has a few cricket grounds.”

The PTI leader stressed that the country’s present system, which does not empower talent due to a lack of merit-based chances, is responsible for the poor performance of Pakistan's squash and hockey teams.

“We will again bring a system based on merit to change this country and reestablish the institutions. We will reestablish the education and agriculture systems to empower the common man.”

He concluded the address by saying he was ‘sad that Nawaz was trying to divide the country’ and promised that his party would unite the country under one flag and one ideology.

The party has been showcasing its political might through holding rallies across Punjab and Sindh. 

Preparations for the event were completed earlier and strict security has been ensured at the venue. Roughly 2,000 police personnel were deployed at the venue, which had seven entry gates. 

Local PTI leaders said around 20,000 people were attending the gathering. The PTI chief and senior party leaders arrived at the venue via helicopter. 

The party held a number of rallies in various parts of the country in November, including Khanewal, Hafizabad and Taunsa.

Imran Khan addressing a rally in late November in Hafizabad lashed out at former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, saying that Nawaz's ideology is only corruption.

"Nawaz says that Nawaz is the name of an ideology. Nawaz's ideology is nothing but corruption," he said.