"There is a fantastic match being played in Lahore," says Imran

KHUSHAB: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chairman Imran Khan on Saturday said that a nation cannot prosper if politicians are corrupt and corrode like an termite. 

Addressing a public rally in Khushab, the PTI chairman said that he struggled for over two decades until people realised the scourge of corruption, and seek treatment for the cancer of corruption.

“I gave my first political speech in Khushab twenty-one years ago,” he said due to its proximity to his hometown Mianwali where he visited regularly for hunting.

“I said that a nation cannot prosper until there is corruption,” he said. “Now I am thankful that people have finally realised it.

He said that as long as we do not treat the cancer of corruption, Pakistan will not be a prosperous nation with even any basic necessities such as employment for youth, clean drinking water and sewerage systems.

He narrated examples of countries such as Congo, which are rich in resources but remain in abject poverty due to massive corruption. Whereas tiny countries such as Singapore having population of four million which was independent years after Pakistan has increased exports to 520bn dollars as compared to dismal 17bn dollars by Pakistan.

This was due to a honest leader like Lee Kuan Yew who took strict action against corruption, and imprisoned his own ministers and spent on the welfare of the people.

Imran Khan said there is a small section of society who rule the nation, steal the wealth to build properties, and then questioned why there are ousted when they are being held accountable, taking a jibe at former prime minister Nawaz Sharif.

He said that Maryam Nawaz initially denied that she or her family members owned any properties abroad, until it was revealed in the Panama Papers and later Hussain Nawaz accepted they he owned the London properties.

“There is an amazing match taking place in Lahore,” he said referring to the by-election in NA-120 being held on Sunday, where he said that the use of state resources, parliamentarians, and Maryam Nawaz will take on Dr. Yasmin Rashid of the PTI.

“The people of Lahore will decide whether they decide with the judiciary who for the first time did accountability of the powerful,” he said appreciating the Supreme Court for their decision to reopen the Hudaibiya case.

Imran said that poorest people are languishing in jails for minor crimes, while the biggest criminals were in the parliament of Pakistan. “The worth of Hussain Nawaz’s six billion house if London is also not equivalent to the theft of those in prison,: he said.

He questioned how a nation can prosper with a prime minister such as Nawaz Sharif, whose children are billionaires with properties in the most expensive localities in London, while the citizens struggle for two basic meals, live in abject poverty, suffering from malnutrition, disease, and twenty million children stay out of school.

“I want to give a message to people of Lahore to made the decision whether they are with the justice, or with the looters of the nation,” he said.

He expressed that a new nation will be formed as envisioned by the father of the nation to make Pakistan a corruption and poverty free nation and a social welfare.

He said that PTI was given the opportunity in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and working tirelessly to reduce poverty five times more than Punjab, and reformed the police system. He predicted the PTI will the next elections in KP with an outstanding majority and will proof how to alleviate hundred million people from poverty in just ten years.