— Veteran journalists including Arif Nizami attend launching ceremony of Zia Shahid’s book ‘Sacha Aur Khara Leader’
LAHORE: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan on Friday said the political party that took the reins of the country after the upcoming elections would deal with a “crisis-stricken Pakistan”.
Speaking at the launching ceremony of veteran journalist Zia Shahid’s book “Sacha Aur Khara Leader” here, the PTI chief said Pakistan was facing a severe crisis and running the country would be a “huge challenge” for the next government.
Stating that Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah was the greatest leader of the sub-continent, Imran said that his vision was to make Pakistan an Islamic welfare state, but the country had deviated from that vision. “Today we display Quid-e-Azam’s portraits in our offices but disregard what he taught us. He was someone who did not come to power using shortcuts,” said the PTI chief and added that politicians nowadays came to power in the name of public welfare but sought their vested interests later.
“Societies where merit is violated and the poor suffer at the hands of injustice can never thrive,” Imran said, adding that the country could be saved only if it was run according to its founding purpose.
The book launching ceremony was attended by veteran journalists and politicians including Arif Nizami, Zia Shahid, Hassan Nisar, Mubashar Luqman, Imtinan Shahid, Shafqat Mahmood, Aleem Khan and Abrarul Haq, while a number of people from all walks of life were present at the occasion as well.
Addressing the gathering, veteran journalist and Pakistan Today Editor Arif Nizami congratulated Zia Shahid on his book and said the book launch was being held at an appropriate time as the general elections were just around the corner.
“Quaid-e-Azam’s words never differed from his actions. He believed in true democracy and debates used to be held within the party for democracy’s promotion,” he said and added that some politicians nowadays claimed to be members of Jinnah’s party while a few wanted themselves to be called Quaid-e-Azam Sani.
The host and writer of the book, Zia Shahid, at the occasion, said that it had been his dream to make a feature film on Jinnah but the authorities did not allow him to do so.
“It was my publisher’s wish to invite the president but later we decided to invite Imran Khan for we thought he was the right person for this,” he said while advising Imran to make his colleagues read the book. Calling him a great politician, Zia said he believed that Imran Khan would think about the people after he came to power because he was an honest leader.
