DADU: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan has held both Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) responsible for the country’s economic ills, saying that the current and the previous governments have burdened the nation with loans running into billions of dollars.

Addressing a rally of his party in Sehwan on Sunday, he criticised both the PML-N and the PPP and said their governments had given nothing to people. He accused former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and former president Asif Ali Zardari of being involved in corruption of billions of rupees and alleged that they both had looted the country and transferred the looted money to their foreign accounts.

The PTI chief said that due to wrong policies of the PML-N and PPP governments, the country’s economy was now facing a crisis as exports were decreasing and unemployment and inflation were increasing. Bad governance had increased people’s problems, he said, alleging that PML-N and PPP leaders had destroyed national institutions, such as National Accountability Bureau and Federal Board of Revenue, for their own interests.

PTI chief accuses Sharif, Zardari of being involved in corruption

He said the PPP had been doing politics on the slogan of Roti, Kapra aur Makan for years, but had given nothing to the poor during its days in power except price hike and lawlessness. The PPP cannot exploit the poor anymore, he added.

The PTI chief accused Mr Zardari and some other leaders of the PPP of having links with criminals. He also accused Mr Zardari of having a hand in the assassination of Mir Murtaza Bhutto, a brother of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto.

He alleged that the PPP’s government in Sindh had politicised the police force and used it for victimising political opponents.

Mr Khan also criticised the performance of PML-N’s government in Punjab and accused it of looting public money in the name of development projects.

He said PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif had raised the slogan of development and vowed to make Pakistan an Asian tiger. But, he alleged, Mr Sharif used the power only to increase the wealth of his family.

Other senior leaders of PTI, including Shah Mehmood Qureshi and Jahangir Tareen, also addressed the rally.

Meanwhile, PTI leaders accused the police of not allowing Mr Khan and other party leaders to enter the shrine of Hazrat Lal Shahbaz Qalandar when they reached there after the rally.

They claimed that all doors of the shrine had been closed when the PTI leaders reached there and they had to return without visiting the shrine.

However, according to reports of some TV channels, the administration of Sehwan disputed the claim of PTI leaders and said that only armed people accompanying Mr Khan were not allowed to enter the shrine.

Published in Dawn, October 23rd, 2017