QUETTA: The incumbent leaders of Pakistan are running the country in the same manner the British ran East India Company, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan claimed while addressing his party’s first public gathering in Quetta in five years.
The PTI chief said the British, after invading India, transferred wealth to the United Kingdom, and the country’s rulers were doing the same today.
“Hindustan ghareeb, Bartanya ameer…That is what’s happening today,” he said, adding that the country was being run by a few families, which he referred to as ‘companies’.
“Our country is being run like a company,” he said. “In Sindh, we have Zardari’s companies; In Balochistan, it’s Fazlur Rehman and Achakzai companies; in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, we have Asfandyar’s companies,” he said, and added, “They are getting richer and richer with each passing day by exploiting the country’s resources and taking them out of Pakistan.”
The PTI chief said Pakistan was full of natural resources and with the current potential it can become the richest country in the world. “If the laundered money is spent on the youth in the country, it will help develop assets for us in the form of skilled individuals,” he said.
Citing Germany and Japan as examples, the PTI chief said that these countries invested on their own people and now they are developed countries.
Turning to the Panama Papers case, Imran said, “Nawaz Sharif, the people want you to speak the truth. They ask you, what business interests do you have outside Pakistan?”
Imran was of the view, “In any democracy, a person cannot become the leader unless he discloses his business interests.” He also urged Pakistanis living abroad to bring forth information on the foreign businesses of Nawaz Sharif.
Discussing recent steps taken by the incumbent government to control anti-state content on social media, the PTI chief described these acts as an attempt to silence the voice of masses. “Don’t mess with PTI’s social media workers,” he said.
Narrating his interaction with Balochistan’s police officials, the PTI chief claimed that the policemen had kept asking him to bring police reforms in Balochistan like the ones he had brought in KP.
“Please remember, until the police is not reformed, people’s lives are not safe; and until their lives are not safe there is no welfare or happiness or business. People are scared,” he said.
People in KP trust the police because it is transparent, he said, adding that it was ‘an example for the rest of Pakistan’. “Balochistan police need to reach the level of KP police and we will make it happen,” said Imran.
