Terrorists want to sabotage elections: Imran

Ag AgenciesQUETTA/FAISALABAD/JHANG/SIALKOT: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan Sunday said terrorists wanted to sabotage elections, and his party would not cancel its scheduled public gatherings to foil designs of the enemies of Pakistan.He conducted a whirlwind tour of four cities including Quetta, Jhang and Faisalabad and Sialkot, and addressed public meetings as well as the media. He visited the family of Nawab Siraj Raisani in Quetta and offered condolences, and addressed three big public rallies in Jhang, Faisalabad and Sialkot in connection with his party’s Election 2018 campaign.Imran termed the Mastung bombing a conspiracy to delay the elections. Speaking to the media during his visit to Quetta, the PTI chief said, “Pakistan’s internal and external enemies are behind the Mastung attack.”Terming Raisani an asset to his party and a diehard patriot, Imran said he realised the true scale of the Mastung tragedy after meeting the victims’ families. Imran declared non-implementation of the National Action Plan responsible for continuation of terrorism in the country after 2014.Had the National Action Plan been implemented in letter and spirit, situation would have been quite different today, he added. “We will not postpone election campaign as that is what the enemies want,” he added. He criticised the rampant corruption in the country and the role of the last federal government in allegedly rigging the 2013 general election.To a question, the PTI chairman said that there was no use of coming to power if a party fails to implement its election manifesto.The PTI chief reached Quetta earlier Sunday to express solidarity with the families of Mastung victims as the country observed a day of national mourning.Imran, accompanied by party spokesperson Naeemul Haque and other members, visited CMH to inquire about the health of those injured in the incident.He later visited the Raisani family at their home to offer condolences.Raisani, the brother of former Balochistan chief minister Nawaz Aslam Raisani, was a Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) candidate from PB-35 constituency.Later on addressing a public meeting at Iqbal Park (Dhobi Ghat ground) in Faisalabad Sunday night, the PTI chief said that after winning elections on July 25, his party would give more powers to National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and other national institutions to eliminate corruption and social evils from society.He said the PTI government would eradicate corruption from society and bring about a new local body system in the country to help solve multiple problems of people at local level.Continuing, he said both the PML-N and PPP were scared of their defeat in the forthcoming polls, as the neutral umpires would not extend any help to both these parties in winning elections. He said both these parties were aware that politically conscious voters would this time ignore them in the polls and this was the reason that they were making hue and cry of pre-poll rigging.He said during 2013 elections, the PML-N and PPP had appointed partial umpires and emerged victorious due to the support of the biased umpires. He said that after winning elections with majority, the PTI would not only form government in centre but also in Punjab, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and other provinces.Imran said that after coming to power, the PTI would formulate wise policies aimed at ameliorating lot of the downtrodden segments of society. He announced that after attaining power, the PTI would drastically bring down prices of various commodities and daily-use goods.Although the interim prime minister had announced Sunday as mourning day, Imran held public meetings at Jhang and Faisalabad.Imran lashed out at the PML-N convicted leader Mian Nawaz Sharif and PPP and said that foreign debt, which was Rs6,000 billion in 60 years, has risen to Rs27,000 billion during the last 10 years. He said per unit price of electricity was Rs2.13 a decade ago which has now risen to Rs9.86 per unit.Earlier, speaking at Mai Heer Stadium in Jhang, Imran Khan said the Sharif family destroyed country’s economy and administrative setup because of their corruption-based policies. He said the PML-N, during its long rule, introduced and strengthened commission mafia.He said a good local government system is key to changing the lives of people at gross-roots level. Imran said Multan metro bus project was a proven example of corruption. He said Shahbaz Sharif made police corrupt and used it for killing of innocent people.He said the PTI had a plan to make the police non-political and change Thana culture in the country. Imran said state resources would be distributed judiciously among small towns and cities during his rule.The PTI candidates for NA and PA seats in the district were present on the occasion.Later Sunday night, addressing a public meeting Sialkot’s Jinnah Stadium, Imran Khan condemned the fresh wave of terrorism in the country. He termed Mastung suicide bombing the biggest tragedy after the tragic incident of Army Public School Peshawar in 2014 and strongly condemned the recent terror attacks in Balochistan and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.He said the terror attacks were a coward tactic of the enemies of Pakistan in order to suspend and sabotage the ongoing campaign for general election. He said that all must join hands in order to foil the enemy conspiracy of suspending or slowing down the election process in the country.Imran Khan said Nawaz Sharif and Asif Ali Zardari had become richer but the vast majority of people of Pakistan had become poorer. He said that the ministers of the previous government had also been serving the foreign companies, which was utterly shameful. He said he had been fighting against corruption and the corrupt political mafias in the country for the last 22 years, but he was not tired yet. He said that after coming to power, he would take all measures to wipe out the menace of corruption from Pakistan.Imran said that after forming government, he would bring back Pakistan’s wealth stashed abroad by former rulers and spend it for development of the public sector. He added the Rs300 billion, which were looted from the country and then shifted abroad by the previous corrupt rulers would be brought back. The PTI chief said that education and health would be given top priority during his government.He said modern universities would be set up in accordance with the international standards and state-of-the-art hospitals would be established. He blamed that the previous power hungry and corrupt rulers had crippled the local bodies institution.The PTI candidate from NA-73 (Sialkot-II) Muhammad Usman Dar and others also spoke on the occasion.

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