Imran vows to provide empowered local bodies system in Punjab

JHANG: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chairman Imran Khan, while addressing a campaign rally on Sunday, vowed to provide an empowered local bodies system which he said will solve the problems of the area.

He said the Western democracies have move much beyond, and elected leaders do not boast provision of basic facilities such as healthcare, but rather this is the characteristic of monarchies.

“Nowhere in the world do elected democrats announce projects as favours to the people. This is the behaviour of monarchs, not democratically-elected leaders,” he said.

He said if given the opportunity to serve after July 25, the will introduce a more robust local government system, which is the main reason for the development and progress of Western societies.

“Institutions are strengthened in democracies, While in third-world countries the prime minister becomes King above all accountability,” he said, adding that decisions should be devolved to the local bodies representatives.

The PTI chief said that the decisions of Jhang were being held in Lahore, who were clueless about the problems of the area. “The Kings of Lahore do not know the problems of Jhang,” he said.

Multan did not want metro bus

He said that former Punjab chief minister Shehbaz Sharif imposed a metro bus system in Multan, based on his own whims, worth Rs60 billion which was not running to full capacity and was making losses.

“An empty metro bus is running in Pakistan. Sharif family was supposed to take commissions from the metro bus,” he said, adding that people of Multan are still saying that they do not need a metro bus in their city.

He said that half of Punjab’s development budget was used in Lahore, while thirty percent of the budget in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was used to build institutions and thirty percent funds were used at district-level.

“An empowered local bodies system will solve your problems and you will be able to make your decisions,” he said, adding they will provide housing which will also provide employment.

Punjab Police will be reformed

He said it was the main responsibility of the provincial government to curtail inflation, which will be demonstrated by the PTI government.

Furthermore, he vowed to reform the Punjab police similar to the KP Police by eliminating political interference and merit-based recruitment. He said that crime and terrorism reduced significantly in KP, and the police force became an exemplary one.

“Shehbaz Sharif used the police to kill his own people. The Sharifs destroyed the police force,” he said, referring to the Model Town incident in Lahore in which seventeen people lost their lives after firing by the Police.

Therefore, he said the people should shun all differences and prejudices and vote for them, and hand over a heavy defeat to their opponents.