Imran Khan takes oath as MNA

Lahore: Imran Khan Chairman PTI took oath today and addressed the Parliament. He congratulated the Speaker on his electoral success and congratulated the Prime Minister.
He said he was speaking not as an opposition leader but as a Pakistani. He talked about the time when Pakistan was one of the leading developing states of Asia – a model for others to follow. And he asked the question “where did we go wrong”?
Quoting from the Quran about God abandons those people who don’t follow the right path. He referred to the Madina. Charter and its focus on Insaf. “We lost east Pakistan because we denied the people Insaf. The poor Baloch sitting on the streets outside the Parliament want justice.” He referred to the people in developed welfare states who were satisfied because they know they have access to justice.
Imran Khan went on to talk about the budget and how it is going to cause utter distress specially amongst the poor and the middle class. He also referred to the difficulty of retaining qualified professionals because of the unfair burden placed on them.
Khan condemned the whole tax regime being propagated as being premised on injustice. That is why there is no tax culture established in Pakistan despite the fact that Pakistanis are leading charity donors.
Imran went on to highlight the lavish official lifestyles reflected in the government houses and other public symbols and asked how on earth we could justify all this.
Imran then went on to talk of terrorism as the main scourge being faced by Pakistan today across the whole country. He referred to the different types of terrorism confronting Pakistan today.
He stated PTI’s solutiion to terrorism focusing on root causes. For 9 years he said we have focused on only a militaristic approach and we know the result of that.
Khan said the whole “war on terror” has been fought by Pakistan on a lie! For dollars Pakistani govts lied to its people.
He spoke about the lie centring on drones. Anyone killed was labelled a “foreign militant” including innocent children.
If Pakistan has to win this war against terror it has to take ownership and that means asserting its sovereignty. Drone attacks link Pak to the US War and anytime there is a chance of peace talks, drones rain in.
Drone attacks need to be stopped not just because they are against int law etc but also because they link Pak with the US war.. Khan said we need to delink and disengage from this war to rob militants of their narrative of jihad.
Khan said if there is any agreement on drones it should be brought before the nation. He suggested Pak needs to go to the anti drone lobbies in the US as well as the UNSC. “Shooting a drone is only a last option”.
“We need a comprehensive policy to stop drones and then move on to a national truth and reconciliation. We need a comprehensive counter terrorism policy against this number 1 scourge against the country.
Imran Khan then went on to talk of the critical problem of corruption. He demanded NAB be totally independent and said in KP the provincial govt will do this with the prov equivalent of NAB.