MIANWALI: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan has said that if his party came to power after next general elections his government will reduce poverty in the country by creating job opportunities and increasing wages of labourers.

He was addressing a rally here on Saturday.

Mr Khan said the PTI would change the culture of tax collection and accountability in the country by introducing reforms in the Federal Bureau of Revenue (FBR) and the National Accountability Bureau (NAB). Both the FBR and NAB needed major overhauling to work efficiently, he said and promised that his party would make the former able to bring all tax evaders under the tax net and the latter able to arrest all corrupt people in the country.

The PTI chief said whenever attempts were made to increase revenues those who already paid taxes were burned further by imposition of new taxes and no sincere efforts were made to bring more people under the tax net.

Mr Khan vowed to bring improvements in the country’s agriculture sector so that farmers could get right price of their yields.

The PTI chief criticised the performance of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s government, saying that both former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif had given nothing to people except hollow promises. Development projects the two brothers talked about were seen only in government-funded advertisements, he said, claiming that the reality was contrary to it.

He accused the Sharif brothers of being involved in massive corruption and said the elder had been disqualified by the Supreme Court and the younger would soon be sacked on corruption charges.

He accused the Punjab chief minister of politicising the police force in the province. He said after coming to power the PTI would bring reforms in the police like its provincial government had done in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The KP government, he said, had introduced reforms also in the health and education sectors.

He appreciated the KP government for initiating a programme under which billions of trees were being planted in the province. He hoped that the programme would play an important role in reducing the pollution and minimising the impact of climate change.

Mr Khan said the people of Mianwali were the first to support him when he started his political career. It was the support of the people of this city which had made the PTI one of the biggest parties of the country. “The young people of Mianwali had expressed confidence in me when I launched the campaign for a corruption-free Pakistan,” he added.

Other PTI leaders also addressed the rally.

Published in Dawn, October 29th, 2017