Imran Khan says PPP afraid of change in Sindh

SEHWAN: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan said on Monday the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) was afraid of change in Sindh province.

Speaking to media here, he predicted that the PPP will suffer a defeat in the upcoming general elections in the province.

Slamming the government for denying him entry to the shrine of Lal Shahbaz Qalandar, he regretted authorities blocked his entry citing lame excuses, adding that one doesn’t need any permission to visit a shrine.

The PTI chairman said there was no freedom of any sort in the province where people had been enslaved. Either they are deprived of their share of water for agricultural use or police stations are used to coerce them, he added.

PPP co-chairperson Asif Ali Zardari and his sister Faryal Talpur were exploiting police for political gains, he alleged.

Turning his guns on arch-rival Nawaz Sharif, Khan said Sharif had stashed Rs300 billion abroad, which is why he was being held to account.

He said he had right to protest, but when he protested against alleged rigging in the 2013 elections, terrorism charges were instituted against him.

He  also took a swipe at Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and the federal government for siding with “the accused person.”

Reiterating his demand for snap polls, the PTI chief said the government should announce the elections instead of protecting the Sharifs.

“If I am demanding snap elections, what the security establishment has to do with this,” he said in a reference to the criticism of his demand.

He threatened to launch agitation if any deal similar to the National Reconciliation Order (NRO) was reached to let the Sharifs go scot-free.