Imran condemns Presidential Ordinance

Chairman Pakistan Tehrik Insaf (PTI) Imran Khan, on Friday, said that if the rulers were truly sincere with the masses, they would try to rid the nation of corruption, especially in governmental departments. Addressing hundreds of protesters in a demonstration here at Abbpara Chowak, Imran said that apparently the rulers seemed ready to deprive the masses of every kind of relief.
The current Presidential Ordinance, for example revealed how the President had snatched the relief, provided by the Supreme Court, from the masses. Condemning the Presidential Ordinance, he added that the PTI, had, today, started mobilising the masses against this cruelty. In this connection, his party would organise a countrywide campaign and would request traders, students, farmers, shopkeepers and transporters to participate in the protest, to compel the government to withdraw the petroleum levy.
He informed the participants that Pakistan was amongst the most corrupt nations at the moment and according to Amnesty International, there was 400 percent corruption in the public sector.
He said that the entire nation wanted to get rid of corruption. But the Zardari administration did not seem to be serious about providing any sort of relief to people, and was busy selling public sector jobs and earning commissions on national projects. He maintained that at present, the daily expenditures of the President house stood at Rs one million per day and, on a yearly basis, it stood at Rs 365 million. Similarly, the Prime Minister house was spending Rs 360 million per year. He added that the President and the Prime Minister, together, were spending Rs 456 million on foreign trips.
He said that the government should cut its expenditure, instead of imposing taxes on each thing. Imran said that at this critical juncture of national history, Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudry was the only ray of hope for the people and the rulers were hatching conspiracies against him. While criticising the government, he said that it had imposed the Petroleum Levy just to fill the budget deficit of Rs 500 billion.
Inviting traders, lawyers, shopkeepers and farmers to participate in the protest against the Petroleum Levy, Imran Khan said that the PTI saw no difference between the policies of the former regime and the present one.
He said that the protests against the Presidential Ordinance revealed that the nation had rejected the polices of the government and it could not afford to bear more expenditure on luxuries. He said that the current Parliament was not a sovereign body, and was working on the orders of the President, which had no importance in the Parliamentary system.
Other speakers, addressing the protestors, said that there was no difference between the current and previous Parliament, as it was also acting like the old Parliament. They said that the current PPP government had taken part in the election on the name of Bhutto and hence got the current mandate. They added that if Zardari decides to hold a fresh poll in his name, he would come to know his worth, as people would reject him all together.
They said that the current government was pursuing the policies of the former government and had no concern with the problems of the masses. The speakers noted that the way in which the government was imposing taxes on the poor people in the coming days, it would deprive the masses of their two meals in the day. Roti would be sold at Rs 50 in the near future.