— Former PM alleges ECP boss is in bed with Punjab chief minister
MULTAN: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan said former prime minister and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supreme leader Nawaz Sharif and members of his family, and former president Asif Ali Zardari ruined the country in their respective years in power.
Addressing a public gathering in Lodhran in connection with the July 17 by-elections, Khan said that during his tenure, investigative agencies had prepared corruption and maladministration cases against the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) co-chairperson, his family and Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah but “mysterious powers” intervened to keep them from being punished.
“I [my government] did everything [in our authority] to prosecute them, but that power did not let us [punish the corrupt],” he said, adding he will disclose more details about it at an appropriate time.
“Those who wield [real] power […] did not think their [Zardari’s] crime was severe enough [to deserve punishment],” he said.
Commenting on the jeer Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal faced at a restaurant in Bhera (Lahore-Islamabad motorway) on Friday night, Khan said it was not misbehaviour but an established fact that the PML-N MP is a thief and a traitor to his people.
He declared Iqbal went to the eatery to eat, but received what he rightfully deserved.
Khan alleged that with the connivance of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja, Punjab Chief Minister Hamza Shahbaz is trying to steal the by-elections.
A mysterious ‘Mr. X’ is sitting in Lahore and colluding with the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), he alleged. “Mr. X is fully aware we are competing with people who are using black money [to win elections].”
Towards the start of the speech, Khan rued the situation in Karachi, where at least five people have been killed due to relentless rainfall that has submerged several areas of the city and left many without power.
He accused the Sindh government of being unprepared to deal with the monsoon rains, unlike the former government of PTI in Punjab under Usman Buzdar.
Khan said the Buzdar administration had installed underground water tanks to store rainwater and prevent it from causing urban flash floods.
He said the same could not be done in Sindh due to “corrupt” elements such as Zardari being in charge. “Sindh can’t progress until he (Zardari) is there,” he claimed.
