MARDAN/SWABI: A caravan of scores of vehicles carrying activists of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf left on Friday for Punjab to participate in the party’s long march on Raiwind, the residence of the prime minister, against alleged corruption of the premier and his family revealed in the Panama Papers.

A party caravan led by provincial minister for primary and secondary education Mohammad Atif Khan left Mardan for Lahore. MPAs Iftikhar Ali Mashwani, Tufail Anjum, Ubaid Mayar and large number of party youth and women wing activists, besides district, tehsil, neighbourhood and village councillors were also part of the procession.

Before proceeding to Raiwind, Mohammad Atif Khan addressed the party workers who had gathered at the Railway Station Ground located on Mardan-Nowshera road. He said Pakistan was a rich country but the corrupt rulers and politicians had plundered its resources.

He claimed that PTI chief Imran Khan was the only politician who could make Pakistan a corruption-free state as he stood like a rock against corrupt rulers.

The minister warned that the financial condition of Pakistan would further deteriorate if the countrymen did not rally behind Imran Khan in his struggle against the corrupt rulers.

He claimed that they were bearing all the hardships and difficulties just for the sake of better future of Pakistan, adding that the day was not far when they would build a new Pakistan where all citizens would be treated equally.

About 100 vehicles of PTI leaders and supporters gathered at Swabi interchange on the Islamabad-Peshawar Motorway in the morning to proceed for Lahore.

Asad Qaisar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly Speaker, and Shahram Khan Tarakai led the Swabi caravan to join the Raiwind march.

Before departure, Shahram Tarakai told Dawn that the Panama Papers had disclosed that family of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had established offshore companies.

In reply to a question, he claimed that Raiwind march would change the nation’s destiny, adding people knew that corrupt rulers were only interested in accumulating wealth and not in their welfare.

Mr Tarakai said the political parties and groups should join the PTI march because it was aimed at making Pakistan a corruption-free and economically vibrant country.

Rangaiz Khan, PTI district coordinator, said the party leadership was committed to making Pakistan a corruption-free state, and that the PTI march was in that direction.

Anwar Haqdad Khan, former district president, said that without eradicating corruption it was difficult to strengthen Pakistan’s economy.

When contacted at the time of filing this report in the evening, the PTI leaders told Dawn that they had reached Lahore and joined the main procession of the party to Raiwind.

Published in Dawn, October 1st, 2016