Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan said on Tuesday it was the first time that big crooks were being questioned over corruption in the country's history. Speaking to supporters after inaugurating a small-scale hydroelectric power supply scheme in Chitral, he said "this is your money that they have looted." He added that Pakistan was soon to enter a new era and people would receive good news shortly.
Referring to the ongoing Panama case investigation, Khan lashed out at the government and said PML-N distributed sweets when the JIT was formed but now they were criticizing it as the matter was going out of their hands. He said Sharifs were being held accountable by the joint investigation team.
Khan said Sharifs laundered money after stealing it from public funds, and now made 'innocent faces' when asked for explanations. "Now the princess [Maryam] has been summoned and they are making a huge hue and cry. Have you forgotten about Benazir Bhutto?" he asked. It was owing to Imran's visit that he failed to appear in the Election Commission of Pakistan on Tuesday to submit his reply in a contempt petition against him.
Censuring Federal Finance Minister Ishaq Dar over his severe remarks, Pakistan PTI Chairman Imran Khan said it was shameful to subject hospitals to criticism. Imran Khan said, "Dar fumed at me as if I asked him the questions during his appearance before the Joint Investigation Team (JIT)." He said that unemployment would end in Pakistan if the money was not stolen and taken out of the country.
Before this, he spoke at an inauguration ceremony of Lawi hydropower project in Chitral's Drosh area and asserted that the country was soon to receive the blessings of Almighty Allah. He notified that Panama case was changing the history of Pakistan which would in fact be a new Pakistan. "This is what we called a new Pakistan where the powerful and weak are equivalent in law. This is the supremacy of law," he pronounced.
Imran Khan on Tuesday inaugurated work on the 69MW Lawi hydropower project near Drosh town of Chitral. It is worth mentioning here that the project was earlier inaugurated in May 2012 by then chief minister Amir Haider Hoti, but work on it could not be started. Lawi is the biggest ever power project undertaken by the Pakhtunkhwa Energy Development Organisation (Pedo) in Chitral which had been initiated by the previous ANP government, but no allocation was made for it in the budget and it remained in cold storage.
Accompanied by Information Minister Shah Farman and Energy and Education Minister Mohammad Atif, party MPAs, and local leaders, PTI Chairman said there were two major problems facing the nation: water and electricity. "You will be surprised to know that most children die in Pakistan because of drinking contaminated water. This is extremely shameful for us. Since the government does not fulfil its responsibility common people have to bribe the authorities in order to get clean water. Providing a basic necessity for the people is our policy. This is the right of the people. This is the responsibility of the government," he said.
The electricity produced in the country was really expensive because it was made with imported fuel paid for by dollars which led to taking international loans, he explained. "To return those loans we have to tax our people. If this tax wasn't there then things would be relatively cheaper," he added.
Khan stated that Pakistan was either importing fuel or using coal for its electricity which was also harmful since it caused pollution. "Our future is dependent on hydroelectricity. In the 1960's when we relied on hydroelectricity, the prices of electricity were the lowest and there was no load-shedding," he claimed.