- PTI chief says Karachi cannot be made into a separate province, says PPP and MQM obtain votes by spewing hatred between Sindhis and Urdu speaking people
- Says Sindh in greatest need of ‘change’
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan on Friday said that Karachi could not become a separate province, adding that Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) chief Altaf Hussain and Pakistan People’s Party Co-Chairman Asif Zardari had divided the province among themselves and pitted Urdu-speaking and Sindhi people against each other.
“After getting the votes based on hatred, they both collaborated in money laundering and now have money in foreign countries,” the PTI chief said while addressing reporters.
“How else is Altaf Hussain surviving abroad for so long?” he questioned. “Who will catch him? Zardari’s money is lying abroad. And now Nawaz Sharif can’t say anything to Zardari because his own money is abroad.”
The PTI leader was of the opinion that the “collusion for common interests occurred in the name of democracy”. He said that all the top politicians have corruption cases against them, adding, “The top two politicians who take turns in Sindh ─ one in London, the other spends his time between London and Dubai ─ have property in billions and large bank balances. How can they spend so much time in London? Ask me. I have lived there and played professional cricket in England for 18 years … Where does the money come from? It is Sindh’s money, it is Pakistan’s money,” he said.
Khan said that 70 per cent of the nation’s gas and revenue comes from the province, and yet the Rs 900 billion spent on ‘development’ in the last five years of governance was nowhere to be seen.
He lamented his absence from the province earlier, saying, “Sindh is in greatest need of change,” and recounted an earlier visit to the province. “The poverty I saw in Sindh, there has been no improvement from when I last saw it 19 years ago. The biggest reason for this is corruption.”
“Who is paying the price of corruption?” he asked, adding, “The people of Sindh.”
He spoke of the need to ally with the common man. “In 1988, all the big leaders were on one side and the common man on the other. They helped Benazir Bhutto win. That’s why the people of Sindh can be confident that the PTI has come to do what Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto did at one time by standing up for people’s rights.”
Khan was optimistic that once they were given reason for this confidence, the people would stand with the PTI.
He gave instances in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa where power was devolved to the people by means of local governments, and spoke of a safety commission to overlook police operations to avoid exploitation of the common man by means of the police.
“Why is the state of roads [in Sindh] this way? Because the people at the top get money and it never reaches the bottom. It goes straight to Dubai,” he said.
“The people of Sindh are like slaves ─ they have no authority. If they are looted, they have nowhere to turn. We will provide a system with an unbiased police force. We will strengthen institutions and empower the people … We will give those rights to Sindh that the rulers of Sindh have not given,” he said.
Speaking about the police force in Sindh, the PTI leader said the force had deteriorated because it had not been left apolitical. “Whatever wrongdoings they need done, they do them through the police.”
“People had hopes [from the PPP], but Zardari did what a military dictator could not do ─ he harmed the PPP in ways others could not achieve,” he said.
“Why are people in Sindh happy with the Rangers? Because there is peace, targeted killing has been reduced and for the first time, someone is going after big corrupt personalities,” the PTI chairman said, adding “But this is what politicians should be doing.”
“Now that Nawaz Sharif is coming after Zardari in corruption cases through Dr Asim, Zardari is making a noise,” he said.
