Umpire’s finger has been raised: Imran

PESHAWAR: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan has said that umpire’s finger has been raised and Nawaz Sharif, instead of wearing an innocent look, must answer the PanamaLeaks allegations leveled against him. “Resignation is an ‘honourable’ thing to do for Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in the wake of PanamaLeaks.”

Highlighting the menace of rampant corruption in Pakistan and offshore companies of the prime minister’s sons as disclosed by the Panama Papers, Imran Khan explained to the gathering the kind of corruption it was and what it did to a country if it went on.

Imran was addressing a public meeting held in connection with the by-election on the provincial assembly constituency, PK-8, scheduled to take place on May 12. It was held at the Northern Bypass, Charsadda Road, where rows of chairs were put up for the participants.

Some mismanagement was seen in the meeting when a local female artiste, Ainie Khan was harassed by certain male participants.Imran Khan recalled that Malaysian leader Mahathir Mohammad once told him that an honest leader was the main ingredient in making a country prosperous and developed.

The PTI leader started his speech by recognising and cheering the youth at the public meeting for their presence despite the mismanagement and festive firing in the air before his arrival at the venue.

Imran Khan challenged Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F) leader and former chief minister Akram Khan Durrani, who is presently a federal minister, to prove what he had promised to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

“Akram Durrani told the prime minister that he could topple the KP government. How can they do that since the PTI has a majority? The only way he could do it is to pay bribes and buy loyalties. I would rather let him do it and cleanse my party,” remarked Imran Khan.He announced that he would soon go to Bannu, the hometown of Akram Durrani, to mobilise the youth there.

Imran Khan said that JUI-F leader Maulana Fazlur Rahman often used the word “Islam” for his vested interests and was part of every military and political government in the past.

Mockingly referring to Maulana Fazlur Rahman as ‘Maulana Diesel’, the PTI head argued that the Maulana would do anything to stay in power. He jokingly said that the JUI-F chief often referred to him as a spy for Jews, but there was no need for the Jews to have an agent in the presence of Maulana Fazlur Rahman.

Continuing in the same vein, Imran Khan said if the country’s prime minister was ever a Jew, Maulana Fazlur Rehman would declare even a government under a Jewish prime minister as legal and Islamic.

He said he could see a ‘New Pakistan’ in the making as the corruption of the PML-N leader and others was getting exposed. He argued it was a norm in democracy to hold leaders accountable and ask them about their assets.

“Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif never explained his sons’ assets in London for the last so many years till the PanamaLeaks exposed it. Yet instead of resigning, the prime minister is moving around the country and holding public meetings in air-conditioned tents. This is not the way to end corruption,” he maintained.

Imran Khan said that in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the PTI government set up the Ehtesab Commission to end corruption. “In the previous government, corruption was at its highest in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa according to a Transparency International report. Now KP is the province with the lowest corruption while Punjab is the most corrupt province,” he stressed.

Earlier, a local artiste Ainie Khan, who had come to the public meeting, was harassed by a few men. The PTI and its workers came under a lot of criticism on the social media for harassment of woman participants, who left the venue much ahead of the formal opening of the public meeting.

Ainie Khan later told the media that she was a fan of Imran Khan and had come to the public meeting to see him and offer him a ring as a gift.The local activists and organisers of the PTI had announced that no female participant would be allowed to come to the public meeting. The decision was taken in the light of incidents of harassment of women activists in the PTI’s Lahore and Islamabad public meetings. However, Ainie Khan’s arrival and departure, flashed on the TV screens, showed a crowd of men circling and shoving her as she left the venue.