Imran reminds Nawaz of attack on Supreme Court by his 'goons'

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan on Tuesday said the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) must not forget its past as the 'goons' of Nawaz Sharif besieged Supreme Court after he was issued a contempt of court notice in Hudaibia Paper Mills case.  

Addressing his anti-government sit-in, he said that the rulers were only worried about his party's scheduled grand rally on November 30 and this was the reason they were making a mockery of law by declaring him a 'proclaimed offender'. "The actions taken by Sharif government to disrupt PTI rally and using courts to declare him a PO, have made him a laughing stock before the world...the people who did money laundering are ruling and the one (Imran Khan) who is raising voice for the voiceless, is being victimised," he lamented. 

He lauded the services of Aga Khan Trust for Culture (AKTC) - a subsidiary organisation of Aga Khan Foundation that works in restoring and rehabilitating the historic structures - for conservation of old historic buildings in Northern Areas of Pakistan. Imran said that the services done by the Aga Khan Foundation to restore historic buildings, and forts in Gilgit-Baltistan, has proved to be a great success to boost the tourism industry, creating job opportunities for locals and renovating heritages. 

He further said that if Nawaz Sharif was so curious to implicate him in fabricated cases, he should have done it after enough brainstorming as PTV attack case has nothing to do with PTI. The PTI chairman accused Sharif of sending corruption money out of the country and bringing it back through remittances, adding that a documentary involving his (Sharif) money laundering scandal was exposed by a foreign broadcasting media company that was later banned by Mushahid Hussain Sayed - an information minister in the then cabinet of Nawaz Sharif cabinet. 

He reiterated that Sharif revived the $160 million loan from Exim Bank of China for Islamabad Safe City project during his recent trip to China, adding it was declared null and void by Supreme Court during PPP government after large scale corruption surfaced in the project. 

He reminded Sharif brothers their tall claims during 2013 election campaign that they would drag Asif Ali Zardari on roads for his massive corruptions. He said that registering any corruption case against Zardari is too far, Nawaz Sharif went to revive the project that scrapped by Supreme Court. 

"Out of total $160 million loans, $60 million had already been withdrawn by Zardari government when the apex court scrapped the project. Now Sharif revived the same project, completely forgetting $60 million, withdrawn by Zardari," he added. He declared Sharif no different than Asif Zardari, saying Zardari refused to appear when Supreme Court summoned him in Swiss money laundering case while Nawaz Sharif attacked SC after Sajjad Ali Shah, the then chief justice, summoned him in Hudaibia Paper Mills case. 

PTI chairman maintained that after coming into power, the PTI will reopen all the corruption cases against Zardari and Nawaz. "We'll not allow you to befool the people of Pakistan any longer. The November 30 rally will change the political landscape of the country once for all," he added. 

He lauded the services of Aga Khan Trust for Culture (AKTC) - a subsidiary organisation of Aga Khan Foundation that works in restoring and rehabilitating the historic structures - for conservation of old historic buildings in Northern Areas of Pakistan. Imran said that the services done by the Aga Khan Foundation to restore historic buildings, and forts in Gilgit-Baltistan, has proved to be a great success to boost the tourism industry, creating job opportunities for locals and renovating heritages. 

He continued that the PTI government was making efforts to turn Qilla Bala Hisar, Attock Fort and other such historic places into tourist resorts. "I will talk to army chief to shift the frontier corps headquarters to some other place and vacate the historic Qilla Bala Hisar a tourist resort," he added. 

Copyright Business Recorder, 2014