Lahore, November 01: Cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan on Sunday led a massive gathering of his supporters here as he sought to galvanise his fledgling Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf party by raking up the issue of the rights of Kashmiris and seeking withdrawal of Indian troops from Jammu and Kashmir.
The rally near the Minar-e-Pakistan monument, which was attended by over 100,000 people, was aimed at projecting Khan as a serious contender in Pakistan’s political arena ahead of the 2013 general election.
Over the past few months, Khan’s party has sought to enlarge its support base in Punjab, the country’s most populous province.
Khan’s nearly 50-minute speech largely focussed on the problems and challenges facing Pakistan, including corruption and crippling power outages, but he used the occasion to take up several populist issues, including the Kashmir dispute.
“I want to tell Hindustan that the 700,000 troops you have kept among the Kashmiris – no Army has been able to solve any country’s problems at any time,” he said to cheers from his supporters.
“Did the Americans succeed in Afghanistan? Is the Indian Army more powerful than the US Army? When the Americans couldn’t succeed, how can you succeed with 700,000 troops that are involved in excesses?” he alleged.
Khan, whose party did not participate in the last general election and fared poorly in previous polls, called on India to give “Kashmiris their rights and call back the troops”.
He said his party would “stand with the Kashmiri brothers and speak for their rights at all forums”.
He said the rally marked the culmination of a movement begun 15 years ago by the Pakistan Tehrik to tackle the country’s problems, including corruption, inflation, rising prices, lack of education, unemployment and an energy crisis.
While raking up such populist issues, Khan criticised both the ruling Pakistan People’s Party led by President Asif Ali Zardari and the main opposition PML-N led by former premier Nawaz Sharif.
“I pledge that no strength, including Zardari or Nawaz Sharif, can stop this flood. This is not a flood, it is a tsunami. Anyone standing in its way will be swept away,” he said.
In a reference to his cricketing days, Khan said: “A terrific in-swinger is on its way, and this will be the first ball that will remove the wickets of two batsmen at the same time?
Khan gave Zardari and all politicians a “few months” to declare their assets and sources of income. He said his party would set up a special cell to name and shame politicians who had millions of dollars stashed away in foreign banks.
Pledging that the Pakistan Army would never be used against the country’s citizens, Khan said his party would roll back military operations in the restive northwest and engage in dialogue, truth and reconciliation to resolve unrest.
He contended that the tribesmen in Pakistan’s northwest would be able to end terrorism if the country halted military operations and pulled out of the US-led war on terror.
“Military operations will not lessen extremism and terrorism or give peace a chance…Drone attacks are driving people to extremism,” he said.
Khan said his party wanted friendship with all countries, including the US, but would not act as a “slave” for American dollars.
“We will help the US to leave Afghanistan but we will not carry out military operations…We will not beg (for aid) from anyone. We will not beg because there is no respect for beggars,” he added.
Khan further said his party would work for the rights of women, including a special drive to educate girls, and the rights of minorities like Christians, Hindus and Sikhs.
——-PTI