F.P. Report
LAHORE: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan on Saturday alleged that Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi has a “one-point agenda” to get a National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) for former prime minister Nawaz Sharif.
Addressing a press conference in Lahore, Khan responded to Prime Minister Abbasi’s recent remarks about the Senate polls saying it was common knowledge that “money works” in Senate polls.
“I have been saying this for years: money works in [Senate] polls. Did they not know this before? Now that they have lost, they are [crying] that the elections [were bought].”
“There can be no alliance with corrupt leaders like Nawaz Sharif and Asif Ali Zardari,” the PTI chairman reiterated.
He further claimed that both Nawaz Sharif and former dictator Pervez Musharraf have offered him seats in the past.
Imran Khan also lashed out at rival Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) as he drew attention to provincial budget allocations.
Claiming that 55 percent of Punjab’s budget had been spent on the provincial capital alone, he said, “This amount [spent on Lahore] is three times that of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) budget.”
“Half of the budget of Punjab and Lahore goes towards [construction] of roads,” Khan said, adding that the “people of Multan never needed the Metro Bus service in the first place.”
“Even despite Rs 60 billion spent on Multan’s Metro Bus project, the buses are running empty,” he continued, and called on the National Accountability Bureau to “once again probe the Multan Metro project.”
Taking direct aim at Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Khan asked why the minister and Nawaz Sharif’s ailing wife Begum Kulsoom have had to resort to travelling abroad for medical treatment.
“Shehbaz Sharif failed to build a single hospital during his tenure where he or Begum Kulsoom Nawaz could be treated,” he said, drawing comparison to Shaukat Khanum Hospital. “It is the best hospital [in Pakistan]. I received medical care there twice.”
The PTI chief vowed to continue “informing the public about the ruling party’s corruption.”
