Imran rules out forming govt with PPP, PML-N
10 September, 2012
LAHORE: Ruling out the possibility of establishing government with Pakistan People's Party (PPP) or Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan on Sunday said he would prefer sitting in the opposition rather than being in such a situation. Addressing a press conference at the PTI Central Media Cell, he said PPP and PML-N were playing tricks in order to fool the people and were fearful of the popularity of the PTI. Rejecting the Sindh Local Government Ordinance, Khan said all parties of Sindh were against the new law as it was based on dishonesty of the government. He said that PTI had decided to reject the law keeping in view the aspirations of the people of Sindh. Coming down hard on the performance of federal government, the PTI chief said he had never seen such a corrupt and incompetent government that had destroyed all the institutions of the country. He also criticised the "dual policies" of the PML-N and said it was in a race for the power corridors. He said both PPP and PML-N were trying to regain power for the fulfilment of their vested interests, as otherwise they have no concern with the problems of the poor masses. Terming the performance of Punjab government as the worst among all four provinces, Khan said he could prove with facts and figures that record corruption had been carried out over the last four years in the province. Flanked by PTI Vice Chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi, PTI President Javed Hashmi, PTI Central Information Secretary Shafqat Mahmood, Ahsan Rasheed and others, he said all economic indicators including agriculture, energy, law and order, education and health, supported his claim that the Punjab government's performance was pathetic. He said the agricultural growth in Punjab was only one percent and the Punjab government, despite having bundle of resources, had not generated even a single megawatt of electricity. "The actual figures show that the average growth in Punjab has been a mere 2.5 percent as compared to the national growth rate of 3.4 percent. Punjab, which is predominantly an agricultural province, has also suffered in this sector as the growth rate indicates only 1 percent growth as compared to the national average of 3 percent," Khan said. The Punjab government has been blaming the federal government for shortages in energy, using the 18th Amendment as a shield to hide its own shortcomings, Khan said, adding that crime rate had also surged in Punjab with an overall increase of 12 percent, with crimes against property increasing by 37 percent, robbery by 109 percent, murder 15 percent and rape 22 percent. Shedding light on the academic record of the Punjab government, Khan said there had been a lot of talk about education, however, statistics showed that 5,700 schools had been shut down in the province during its tenure. He said while the population had increased manifold, the gross enrolment at primary level had gone down by one percent. He said that present government had devoured loans of Rs 80 billion while education sector was the most neglected one. He said that instead of spending on sectors like health and education, all the development funds had been spent on an ill-planned project like the Bus Rapid Transit System. He said the project was merely an election gimmick in order to create hype amongst the masses. Khan said, "It is regrettable to say that not a single bed has been added in public hospitals." End.
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