HYDERABAD, Aug 5: Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf chairman and MNA Imran Khan has said that the gulf between the people of Pakistan and security forces has widened.

He said impartial elections could be ensured through an independent election commission and if judiciary was made independent the army would never intervene.

Speaking at the District Bar Association here on Friday, he alleged that rulers had become subservient to America in order to perpetuate themselves in power. As a result human rights of the people of Pakistan were being violated.

Mr Khan said if a government came into power through fair elections, it would enjoy the support of the masses and the opposition would not be able to topple such a government.

The president of the DBA, Mr Bashir Gujjar, lauded the services of Imran Khan to politics and cricket.

A member of the Sindh Bar Council, Allah Bachayo Soomro, presented the traditional gift of Ajrak to Mr Khan.

The PTI chief said no political party or politicians should invite the army to interfere in politics under any circumstances.

He said many Pakistani security personnel had been killed in Waziristan and proud people were being targeted to appease America.

He said excesses were being committed because judiciary was not independent.

He said Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz had no roots in the masses and the sovereignty of the country had been mortgaged to the United States.

He rejected claims about the GDP growth rate and said that corruption had reached its peak and a small group had amassed trillions of rupees while the poor had become poorer.

He said Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz could not even win the elections of a union council on the agenda of development and prosperity.

He said hyperinflation had broken the back of the people and hatred and a sense of deprivation had taken roots in their minds.

Imran Khan said Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Illahi had spent tens of millions of rupees on his personal publicity but 70 per cent of schools in Mianwali were lying closed.

He said an independent judicial system be established as per the recommendations of the Supreme Court Bar.

Our Correspondent adds: Speaking at a press conference at the press club on Friday, he said defence deal between India and the United States was signed despite in the wake of Pakistan’s full cooperation in war against terror.

He said the pact would lead to an escalation of arms race which Pakistan could not afford given its economic conditions.

“Pakistan simply cannot compete”, he said.

He posed a question as to why Pakistan was buying F-16 when India and Pakistan had improved their ties.

He said recent statements of Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh during recent US visit, expressing fears regarding our nuclear programme.

He said it was surprising that Indian premier feared that nuclear programme would slip into the hands of extremists after Pervez Musharraf.

He said the defence deal also included signing of nuclear technology’s transfer related agreement adding that agreement proved that US recognised the India’s nuclear programme.

He said the poverty graph had also increased in interior Sindh and when there was no political stability, good governance, supremacy of law how come the government achieved the eight per cent growth rate of GDP.

He said the growth rate was achieved after Pakistanis working in the US transferred their money in the wake of 9/11 and our country got the price of services, offered to the US in war against terror.

“We are in fact lagging behind Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal. When we have not spent sufficient budget on education how can there be a good productivity”, he said.

He criticized the government for not introducing structural changes in the country and said corruption had increased.

He criticized the government’s claim of non-party basis local government elections while ministers continued to utilize full state machinery.

He opposed the construction of Kalabagh dam until consensus was evolved among smaller provinces which had lost faith in the centre.