LODHRAN -  Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan said Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif was responsible for the killings of 870 people in fake police encounters during 1997-98.

Addressing a public gathering in Lodhran, he said Shehbaz Sharif was not a superior servant (Khadim-e-Aala) but a superior murderer. Khan said he would request the Supreme Court to form a commission to investigate the killings of 870 people in fake police encounters during the regime of Shehbaz Sharif in 1997-98. He asked Shehbaz Sharif to answer the corruption of billions of rupees in Multan Metro Project.

Khan said he was not doing politics, but striving against the corrupt and cruel people. He said the Supreme Court gave them time and now the National Accountability Bureau is giving them time, but they have nothing to say in their defence.

Imran Khan criticised the statements of Nawaz Sharif against the judiciary and said when the Supreme Court asked him to give the money trail, he brought a Qatari letter. He added time for accountability has come.

The PTI chief said the people of KP trust the police of the province and consider them their guardian because they do not kill citizens on the orders of the chief minister whereas the Punjab police kill the people on the orders of Shehbaz Sharif. The Model Town killings in 2014 were witnessed by the people on TV channels live when the Punjab police killed unarmed people.

Addressing the public gathering, PTI leader Jahangir Khan Tareen said Lodhran gave him respect and now the city is known to the whole world. He said the court gave verdict against him and he accepted it, claiming he did no corruption, evaded no tax and laundered no money. Instead, he submitted each proof in the court, but he was disqualified for showing properties in the papers of his children and not in his own documents. This was done by him on the advice of his tax lawyer, Tareen said.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Vice Chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi said Ali Tareen is an educated youth and there is no better candidate than him, adding he would win the by-election on February 12.

Awami Muslim League Chairman Sheikh Rasheed said if Nawaz Sharif did not go to jail, he should be renamed as Rana Sanaullah. Rasheed said PTI would win NA-154 Lodhran by-election. “PTI Chairman Imran Khan is the only choice for the nation,” he stated.

He said all those involved in running campaign against the military and judiciary should be tried.

PTI Chairman Imran Khan yesterday attended the party gathering in Lodhran although the ECP had asked him not to visit the city.

Earlier, the ECP had directed all political parties to abide by the code of conduct. PTI leaders were barred by the commission from visiting NA-154 constituency after schedule of the by-election had been issued as, according to the rules, parliamentarians cannot visit a constituency after issuance of an election schedule.

Imran Khan attended the rally and addressed the party supporters, urging them to vote for Jahangir Tareen’s son Ali Khan Tareen in the by-election.

Tareen was disqualified in a corruption case by the top court following the ouster of former premier Nawaz Sharif in the references filed by PTI and others.