Imran thanked Sharif for cleaning his party

Lahore: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan on Tuesday reiterated his resolve of not to take oath from the incumbent President Asif Ali Zardari after voted as next prime minister of the country, saying that Asif Zardari was a creation of NRO which was unconstitutional and the constitution did not allow him to take oath from a person of criminal background.

Speaking at a press conference along with Nawab of Bahawalpur Salahuddin Abbasi here on Tuesday, Imran Khan said that PTI and Bahawalpur Awami National Party (BANP) led by Nawab of Bahawalpur Salahuddin Abbasi had agreed to forge electoral alliance as both the parties were opposed to the status-quo and no one could raise finger at the long political career of the leadership of both the parties.

PTI leaders Makhdoom Javed Hashmi, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Jahangir Khan Tareen, Naeem-ul-Haq, Malik Amin Aslam, Faisal Javed Khan and BNAP leader Farooq Azam Malik were also present on the occasion.

Imran Khan said that PTI and Jamat-e-Islami (JI) had yet to final a seat-adjustment formula, however, he disclosed that the JI leadership had been conveyed that they would have to either choose PTI or Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) for seat-adjustment arrangement.

Regarding the PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif, the PTI Chairman said that he thanked Sharif for cleansing his party from the corrupt and crook politicians, vowing that all the political forces must keep in mind that after the party polls, the PTI had turned into a robust political force, which would sweep away all the corrupt forces in the forthcoming general elections.

Imran Khan made it clear that the PTI would prefer to leave the seats vacant rather than allocating party tickets to candidates with tainted past, adding that the PTI had become the Party of ideological people.

“The PTI would announce its political manifesto within two or three days, wherein the redressal of each and every issue has been detailed,” he mentioned.

Responding to a question about new province3s demand, the PTI Chairman said that the PTI did not believe in making false promises just to win election like other political parties, which were fooling the masses by making flowery slogans, adding that political parties remained in power for the last five years, but did not resolve a single issue.

“Look the new provinces issue is a tricky one. In principal, we believe that small federating units should be formed as is the case with rest of the world as this helps in better management and better governance. However, we want to resolve the matter properly and not by taking it up as election slogan as there are issues like water and resources distribution, allocation of seats of Senate and other related issues,” added Khan. Replying a query, Imran Khan said that restoration of ‘Bahawalpur State’ was a separate issue and at juncture of time he could not talk about this issue.

Referring to Maulana Fazlur Rehman, Imran Khan said that he had enjoyed the coalition government of Zardari and company for three years and when the government was about to complete its five-year term, he jumped the ship and joined hands with Nawaz Sharif.

“He also opposed my repeated demands of holding talks with the Taliban. But when only two weeks were remaining for elections, he convened All Parties Conference (APC) to mock the much thorny issue of war on terror, which was a joke with the nation”.

Imran Khan predicted that a tough match was ahead on May 11 in which the spirited and passionate workers of the PTI would win over their opponents in the forthcoming elections.

“The world has seen the spirit and enthusiasm of the PTI workers in impressive gathering in Lahore, as they remained steadfast despite heavy downpour,” he observed, adding that a greater tsunami would now reach Mingora and other parts of the country.

To a question about possible electoral alliance with Dr. Tahir-ul-Qadri-led party Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT), Imran Khan said that Qadri did not contest election so the question of electoral alliance did only arise. However, Imran Khan said that Dr Qadri wanted a change through staging sit-ins, while the PTI was of firm belief that a change could only take place through ballots, hoping that the upcoming election would bring a real change in the country, as it would put an end on the dynastic and family-limited political parties once and for all.

However, he said that keeping in view the need of rising population, it was need of an hour to constitute small unites, as Switzerland was smaller than Lahore, but it was consist of 25 provinces.

Khan also said that some status quo forces were claiming that tsunami was dying down with the retirement of General (Retd) Pasha. “The PTI’s March 23 mammoth gathering is a bigger than of October 30 Jalsa and the real super tsunami would be witnessed in Mingora now and other parts of Pakistan,” he added.

Imran Khan said he would like to make a request to the caretaker Prime Minister Mir Hazar Khan Khoso to ensure holding fair, free and transparent elections, otherwise no one be spared of the public wrath. He said that the PTI strongly believed in integrity of Chief Election Commissioner Fakhruddin G Ebrahim.

Speaking on the occasion, Nawab Salahuddin said that he and Imran Khan were pursuing the same agenda for change and their fight was against the status quo forces and that was the reason that they were joining hands to defeat those forces for better.

He said that all the state institutions were on the verge of a collapse and only Imran Khan was a leader who could steer the country out of the prevailing crises.