Following is the full text of Chairman Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Imran Khan’s speech to large public gathering at Parade Ground in Islamabad held on July 30, 2017 to observe “Youm-e-Tashakur” following the disqualification of Nawaz Sharif.
“I gave you an invitation, and the way you showed up in numbers today at Parade ground… I can see a nation in front of me that is aware and understands the issues that plague Pakistan. I want to especially thank the women here today; in this intense heat, I have been observing you since 4 hours and your enthusiasm and your junoon has not faltered. I am so happy that women are at the forefront of making Pakistan a great nation. I often think it is so weird that NGOs from the West come to tell our women what their rights here; but these women standing in front of us know what their rights are. The way you participated during the dharna and now; I call this a part of nation building. When the women of the nation rise, no one can defeat that nation. The biggest contribution in making me who I am today was my mother Shaukat Khanum. She was that woman who was political and had awareness; she used to feel for the country and it would pain her to see the Pakistan made my Quaid declining. I remember seeing her sadness even as a young child. The teaching that she instilled in me since my childhood was to rise for justice and Insaf; for truth and right. Since I was a child, I heard to never bow my head in front of injustice and to stand in front of tyrants. Our women understand everything; they have a strong grip on the issues and I can see the next generation is going to be a great generation. I want to thank our women again and all the people here standing in this extreme heat. I want to speak to you from my heart today; but first on behalf of the entire nation of Pakistan,. I thank the 5 SC judges, and the members of the JIT I salute you on behalf of Pakistan. I know how much pressure you must have Had on you; this mafia (because they are not politicians but a Mafia) who tries to either buy people or then intimidate them. When they can try to buy off a person like me, one can just imagine the pressure you all must have had. Any praise I bestow on the SC judges is not enough. This is the same parade ground where 2nd November we decided to go to the SC and not come on the streets. Why did we decide this? Because on the 1st of November SC judges told us, come to the courts and fight this case, don’t hit the streets. When we made this decision our youth, our workers, journalists were all depressed. I was told it was a massive opportunity to hit the streets as you would not get justice from the courts because whenever our courts have tried to hold the powerful accountable it has never happened. Our journalists and opinion makers who I really respect, and our youth were disappointed. PPP said we made a mistake, Tahir Ul Qadri said we make a mistake. This is why on behalf of the entire nation I thank the SC because you have revived hope in Pakistan; you have done what I dream for Naya Pakistan. You laid the foundation for Naya Pakistan. Naya Pakistan is not about metros, underpasses and overhead bridges. The foundation of Naya Pakistan was on justice and equality. There is a majority of youth here today; I want you to always keep a concept in mind…. that whatever you can dream, you can achieve. Allah has made you the highest of all beings; and he has given you immense power. Maulana Rumi regarding your immense power said that when I have given you wings to fly, why do you not take flight. You are not even aware of the extent of the potential you have. What is Imran Khan? An ordinary human being who dreams big. You can be even bigger than me if you believe in yourself. We have the opportunity to learn from our own religion. I have been asked many times that you have been fighting since 21 years, aren’t you tired? So I just want to tell you that when I became a man of faith; ( I pray to Allah for my boys that may they also develop very strong faith). Faith gives you freedom and makes you a larger than life human being. Our Prophet (PBUH); his life is my biggest inspiration and what I have learnt from. He had ultimate faith, and then complete belief in Allah for success. I want to tell all of you, that you can do anything that you put your mind do… do not be demoralised by defeat, and all testing times are sent to teach you. Difficult times when they come upon human beings and when you stand up to them, you become bigger human beings. Where we are standing today I see a Naya Pakistan. The nation I am seeing today, the way our youth has stood up… I can see how this match is going to progress. The match is not over till the last ball is bowled; but I want to already tell you we have won the match of Naya Pakistan.
I want you all to conceptualise in your minds what Naya Pakistan will be; women, children… everyone I just want you to imagine what Naya Pakistan will be. For me Naya Pakistan means such systems and policies where InshAllah one day we will have a time when we won’t find people to give Zakat to because we will rise out of poverty. That we will one day send Zakat to poor nations; many think this dream is impossible but this day will come. This is called a big dream. Small dreams are that I’ll get one house and then another and then stash money in panama. Big dreams are to dream to send our doctors and experts to other countries to help them out. This is where we need to reach. There were two superpowers; The Roman Empire and the Persian Empire and a small Medina Riyasat in the middle. However, 30 years later a time came when one could not find poor people in that kingdom. We have to make policies to eliminate poverty and to give our children the finest education in our government schools. That the best of Pakistani minds study in free government schools; I am happy that the government of KP has invested time and funds into education in the province. I commend Atif Khan for the fact that 150,000 children have gone from private schools to government schools. That our government hospitals give the best treatment and only specialised treatment is given in private hospitals; and free healthcare where no poor person is crippled because of medical bills. I commend the government of KP again for giving 60 percent of people in the province health cards where they can get free treatment up to 500,000 rupees in even any private hospital in the province. This is our dream for all of Pakistan so no one is crippled by medical bills. We want that system of justice in Pakistan that was established in the Kingdom of Medina. Massive nations have been destroyed that have one system of justice for the weak and the powerful. Overseas Pakistanis are ecstatic about this day because they see such systems of justice where the powerful are accountable in the West. This is the system we want to bring; where a biker has to bribe a police officers but a land cruiser man whizzes by and if stopped by police says “don’t you know who I am”. Did you hear that the Sharif Family and Ishaq Dar had to say when they would come out of the JIT; that the officers didn’t answer their questions. This is how entitled our elite feel in this country and this elitism is what we need to break with accountability and it has to start from the top. I Imran khan stand in front of you today and I vow that the NAB that we will have in Naya Pakistan will not wait for orders from the powers that be rather they will operate independently.
Whoever wants to join PTI, you are welcome but I tell my people that if anyone does corruption I will directly take responsibility to bring them to justice and accountability. We will make such strong institutions that no one will have the guts to steal or evade taxes. We will collect taxes in such a way that Pakistan will never have to beg in front of the international community again. It will be a welfare state where children are educated, have access to clean water and health. An FBR where the powerful will not be able to evade taxes; by protecting the value of the people’s money and their taxes. My eyes are on the governor house of Lahore. This is a symbol of colonialism; a country where half the population is under the poverty line, how can we justify a governor living in Such a palace. How can we justify a PM house whose daily expenditure is 35 lakhs daily. Where a daily trip abroad of the PM costs in millions daily. Where 2.5 crore children are not in school. First and foremost the fortified walls of the governor house of Lahore will come down and it will become a public space. Even the governor house of Peshawar we will make into a women’s park as there are no women exclusive public spaces. We will do the same in Karachi and those in Muree and Nathiagali will be turned into hotels and rest houses to earn revenue from. We will not justify the powerful rulers using public money to exploit and enjoy.
My third promise is that Imran Khan has never bowed to anyone and I will never let my nation bow in front of everyone. My youth the one thing that affects you the most is unemployment; I promise you that in the same Pakistan we will fix governance and strengthen institutions and this will bring investment; majority of which will come from overseas Pakistanis. We have made systems in KP; fixed security and police… and we are getting record high investment in the history of the province. We are getting private sector investment for the first time in hydroelectric power. Our biggest asset is overseas Pakistanis who are willing to invest billions but they will only come when we have a grip on governance in this country. I promise a system of merit in Pakistan; I am proud that government jobs are given on an NTS system in KP. I want to tell Pervez Khattak; that even class 4 jobs will be given on a system of merit. The whole system will be based on merit system and NTS. What makes a society rise is a system of merit. The stronger the system of merit, the stronger the democracy. Allama Iqbal said that the West progressed ahead because they embraced democracy while the Muslim world stayed stuck with dictators and kings. I promise to bring merit in cricket and build such a system that no one will be able to defeat Pakistan in cricket. I know you are tired; but I want to tell you that if Nawaz Sharif was going, did N league find no one else but Shehbaz Sharif?
N league you have been wronged by your leaders, so I want to ask you did they find no one else but this mans brother? When the Iceland PM resigned, someone else replaced him and their democracy went on. But N league is not a Democratic Party; NS daughter the deputy PM, Shehbaz Sharif the CM and his chutkoo son the deputy CM. This is not a democracy, this is a kingdom. N league talks of democracy but there is a King ruling you. And he took you down with him. Margaret Thatcher was relieved by her own party because she had become a burden on them, same with Tony Blair and the Labour Party. What the Sharif family has made N league go through; they are the ones who stole and their party minions had to face the damage control. Let’s hope all these people whose faces the whole nation remembers are forgiven by their own children some day. When we go through the general election we will do an election in our own party too; you tell me how many Imran Khan relatives are official PTI party members? We have given space to young people like Murad Saeed.
If one thing I said is a lie I will resign myself from the party. We want an end to family politics; and this fight against corruption…. their nomination of Shehbaz Sharif and Khaqan Abbasi; I want to tell you we are going to come after your corruption. And after this I want to send a message to Asif Zardari that we will come after you and Maulana Fazlur Rehman too. Our fight is against every element of corruption and not a personal fight against Nawaz Sharif.
I want to thank everyone who has stood with me for 21 years; and even those who have tired and who are sitting at home. I want to especially thank our social media; this has been our most powerful weapon because of which Mafias like Mir Shakeel Ur Rehman cannot blackmail us anymore. The man who admitted himself that it’s not about journalism rather about business for him; rakam barhao Nawaz Sharif hum tumharay saath hein. I want to thank our heroic anchors and journalists and media houses who did not bow to the pressure of these corrupt elements. Yasmin Rashid here is the candidate we are putting up against Shehbaz Sharif.
21 years I have fought hard for my country; I thank Allah for giving me the strength. They made all kinds of attacks towards me; and made all kinds of allegations towards my father who left his government job when I was 6-7 years old. However, what hurt me the most was when they attacked SKMCH to hide and save their own corruption. This is an institute that the people of Pakistan have built and that the people of Pakistan run. It will be written in history that the children of Pakistan raised this institute from the ground up. The two SKMCH hospitals are examples of free cancer care for the poor the world over. They don’t differentiate between the rich and the poor and they went and attacked this institution. If you were in government and you thought something wrong was being done; why didn’t you put these people in jail. I promise you this is what I would do.
I will talk to you today about what they did to Jemima Khan; what I never spoke about before. A 21 year old, who came from a comfortable household, converted to Islam and moved to this country. If you google her history you will see how much criticism there was towards her in the West for converting. When they were acting victimised; did they not remember the campaign that they ran against her. That she was a Jewish agent. She left a comfortable life to come here. These people who act victimised; they levied a case of antique tiles smuggling on her. Cut an FIR on her. She was 23 and she was pregnant; and antique smuggling is a massive offence in Pakistan. She stayed out of Pakistan for 9 months and the course of her pregnancy; the biggest thing that hurt me was that my kids went away. These corrupt people, their God is money. But for me my children were my everything. So when Nawaz Sharif went; she tweeted two things. About the case, and the Jewish agent propaganda. She has still not forgotten so one can imagine what she went through. Hence I want to tell you that they will play with anyone’s life and anyone to save their corruption. What did the PM of AJK say today; as Kashmir fights…. this man to just save the corruption of a man who has laundered billions…. what did he say? The people of AJK should protest against this statement. This Sharif family will fraternise with Pakistan’s enemies to save their own corruption. What was Dawn Leaks? It was the language of the enemy that came out from the media cell of the PM. And why did he say this? Because he knows that in the US the Indian lobby and the Israeli lobby is the same and he needed their help to save their corruption. They present their victimised faces today but what they have done to this country; the way they have looted and leeched off this nation. 1000 billion is stolen from this country annually; SKMCH a world-class institution was made in 4 billion. The PM the biggest money launderer, finance minister another one; Syed Ahmed head of National bank another money launderer. Shehbaz Sharif another money launderer, Asif Zardari another one. So all these thieves are sitting at the top so there is no wonder that we are drowning in debt. When Zardari came into power every Pakistani was under debt of 35000 rupees, today that dept stands at over 100,000. We have not yet won the fight against corruption but InshAllah we will win it. I am telling Shehbaz Sharif and LNG Abbasi today that don’t be under any misconception that we will spare you to do your corruption, and neither should Asif Zardari be under any misconception. We are going to come after all of you!” – Imran Khan
Courtesy: PTI Official Page at Facebook
