LAHORE: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf chairman Imran Khan on Saturday lambasted the heads of four key state organisations for ‘failing’ to fulfil their duties by allowing the corrupt and the dishonest to get off scot-free.

Chiding the heads of the National Accountability Bureau, Federal Board of Revenue, Federal Investi­gation Agency and the Election Commission of Pakistan one by one, Mr Khan lamented that the FIA and NAB did not ever attempt to catch the big fish while the FBR became instrumental in making the poor poorer. And the ECP, he alleged, had become the B-team of the PML-N.

Mr Khan said this during an initial speech from his container at the start of the party’s ‘Pakistan March’ at Shahdra Chowk about four hours behind the scheduled time of 4pm.

PTI chief threatens to march on Raiwind after Eid if Sharif fails to answer four queries

The PTI leader had reached the venue at the head of a charged crowed of party workers and supporters, who were chanting slogans and dancing to the tunes of party songs. The route was painted red with party flags, banners and life-size portraits of party leaders, especially Imran Khan.

It may be mentioned that a large number of workers from the PPP, Pa­kistan Awami Tehreek and PML-Q are also taking part in the rally.

While Mr Khan called the rally a successful show, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s daughter Mariam Nawaz tweeted: “Lahore rejects fasaadis”. In another tweet, she said: “People clearly want work [and] not rona dhona.”

In his tirade against the premier, Mr Khan said that the rally was aimed at pressuring the national institutions to dispense justice. Hoping that the masses would get justice, he said the prime minister was out to protect his corruption and looted wealth and ruining the national institutions that would eventually devastate the country. He said the nation had stood up to the cause and was asking the prime minister to answer as to how he had massed wealth and purchased expensive assets abroad.

In a democracy, he stressed, a prime minister was answerable to the nation but Nawaz Sharif wanted his accountability through his “tailored” accountability law.

“The prime minister should not put the future of the whole nation at stake, while saving his corruption and looted wealth,” he asserted.

Addressing Defence Minister Khawaja Asif, the PTI chief said neither Imran Khan nor the nation would forget the Panamagate scandal despite delays and added that he would also not let him [Khawaja Asif] forget the Panama Papers leaks.

Stating that the moral standards for the prime minister are always much higher than common people, Mr Khan regretted that the PM’s corruption would not disturb a few but the whole nation and the country. He also chided Nawaz Sharif for launching an attack on the Supreme Court and doing horse-trading popularly known as ‘Chhanga Manga politics’.

Mr Khan alleged that Nawaz Sharif was again planning to “buy” politicians to win the next general elections because he knew well that losing elections would land him in jail. He alleged that Nawaz Sharif was planning to offer Rs1 billion “bribe” to each MNA as well as “buy” officials of national institutions to win the next elections by hook or crook. “It is high time that the nation came out and held Nawaz Sharif and his family accountable.”

He also chided the Punjab government for not arresting and holding those accountable who had killed 14 Pakistan Awami Tehreek workers in Model Town in 2014.

Ministers’ pressers

While, the “Pakistan March” moved forward on its route, Information Minister Pervaiz Rasheed and Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah addressed separate press conferences and termed the PTI show a “flop”.

Mr Rasheed advised Imran Khan to come to Minar-i-Pakistan and hold his show for hours and hours and stop making people suffer.

Mr Sanaullah said the PTI show had flopped as only 6,000 participants riding 263 vehicles were the total strength of the rally. He said the city lived normally with normal flow of traffic and markets open. He said the metro bus was closed at the rally route.

During brief speeches from the container while moving on the route, Khan lauded the nation as the news poured in that the FBR had started sending notices to those named in the Panamagate scandal. The ‘Pakistan March’ was near Bhati Gate till the filing of this report when Imran Khan announced that the rally would reach its destination — Chairing Cross in front of the Punjab Assembly — at around Fajr prayers.

Published in Dawn, September 4th, 2016