Imran Khan says he is not Taliban sympathiser

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan said that he is a supporter of Pakistan, and not a Taliban sympathiser. He held Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif responsible for Bannu bombing.
The PTI chief was addressing a rally in Haripur as part of electioneering for by-election on PK-50 Haripur-II.
He said that in May 2013 he had asked Nawaz for giving priority to peace but the premier remained busy in foreign tours.
Reacting over the recent attack on security forces convoy in Bannu which claimed lives of 22 security personnel, Imran questioned as to whom he should blame for this attack other than the government.

“I would have given top priority to terrorism instead of foreign tours. I would have made my own delegation to trigger efforts to shun extremism,” he added.
Imran said he was clueless as to how the government was planning to hold peace talks.
He said he is a Pakistani and spoke for the nation and not a spokesman or supporter of the Taliban as blamed by his political rivals.
He condemned the TTP for its attack against a convoy of soldiers in Bannu that killed at least 23 security personnel and wounded 60 others.
The PTI chief also expressed shock at the use of a private vehicle for transporting the soldiers without proper security checks. He said such a move also exposed the movement of troops in advance – in itself a breach of security.
Imran said that such terror attacks by the TTP along with the federal government’s continuing inability to formulate a comprehensive counterterrorism policy, has made it difficult to actually commence a formal dialogue and give peace a chance. In the absence of political ownership and a political dimension of counterterrorism involving negotiations and dialogue backed by state power, even operations were not yielding success. This is reflected in the daily killings going on unabated in Karachi while the Rangers’ Operation is ongoing.
He demanded that the government either make clear its policy for fully implementing the APC mandate or call an APC to develop a new national consensus. The PTI chairman said this was the time to finally reject such conditionalities and the aid and extricate ourselves from the US so-called “war on terror”.
The PTI chairman also criticised the fake cases against party activists in Punjab and Sindh and termed it political revenge.
The PTI chief said the government should hand over the control of PESCO and distribution in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, his party would lower the prices of electricity and curb power theft.
He said that PTI would introduce an updated system to provide justice, employment, eradicate poverty besides improving law and order situation in the country.