Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)Chairman Imran Khan has accused the ruling party of becoming the Punjab's Muttahida Qaumi Movement and branding the province a "police state". At a press conference, after condoling with families of party workers Shahzad and Arif allegedly killed in a scuffle between the ruling party's workers and those of his party a few days ago, Imran Khan said scathingly, "The ruling party has turned the Punjab into a police state to keep its despotic control over people. They have politicised law enforcement agencies to victimise their political opponents."
The party chief, who has camped down in Lahore to lead a Local Government election campaign, also branded the Punjab Police as "servants of the government". He also blamed the ruling party for killing the party workers in the Punjab. "The Punjab has become a police state where the police can do anything without any accountability. The police duty is to provide security to people, not to back criminals. If the police fail to take action, we will protest outside the office of the Punjab Police Inspector General. I have come here to tell policemen that no government remains in power forever. Those policemen who are assaulting our workers will not be spared when we come into power in the Punjab."
In response to a question, he said it was his belief that the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz could never win the elections through fair means. He claimed his party could never stop rigging in the recently held NA-122 by-elections, accusing the ruling party of committing "technical rigging".
He went on, "Although we tried to stop the rigging, the party still managed to do it through technical means. However, we will expose them ... We will bring facts before the people which will badly expose the rigging tactics of the ruling party." He then urged the Election Commission of Pakistan to have the army and rangers placed at sensitive polling stations across the province. "In province where people, like Rana Sanullah, are ministers of law, how can one expect justice?" he questioned. "Those times have passed when votes could be snatched by force. Accountability is another name for democracy, but as soon as the process of accountability of the Pakistan People's Party started, all corrupt politicians would start a hue and cry."
He said when his party ministers and their relatives were being rounded up by Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa's accountability body, no one said a word but as soon as the same institution arrested a former Awami National Party minister, "every politician jumped into action crying out 'political victimisation'".
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