Imran says will contest from Karachi

RIZWAN BHATTI

KARACHI: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan Saturday announced a 10-point agenda for Karachi, vowing to turn Karachi into the “best city of Pakistan”.

Addressing a public meeting here, Imran said that Karachi is the financial hub of Pakistan and the country’s economic growth is linked with the development of Karachi. “Therefore, I have decided to contest general elections from Karachi to resolve its issues,” he added.

Presenting his 10-points agenda for Karachi, he said water crisis is the first issue of Karachi. Despite the fact it is the country’s largest city, water is not available in the metropolis,” he added.

“We will change the administration system of the city from selection to direct election for local bodies to ensure the transfer of power. A master plan will be prepared for Karachi to resolve major issues such as water and sewerage,” he added.

The party’s second priority will be to improve government schools, where some 70 percent children are enrolled, he said and added that in KPK some 0.1 million children of private schools have joined government schools as the education standard in government schools is far better than private schools. He also vowed to provide best health facilities with state-of-the-art hospitals in the metropolis.

Khan said certain Karachi police officers have been involved in extrajudicial killings and murdered hundreds of people including Naqeebullah Mehsood. It’s a matter of shame that Rao Anwar was involved in the killing of innocent people and Zardari was appreciating his performance, he added.

In Punjab, some 877 people have been reported killed in extrajudicial acts. However, there is not a single extrajudicial killing case reported in KPK because KPK police work professionally. “We will improve policing system, after winning election and there will be no need of Rangers in Karachi,” he maintained.

Presenting his fifth point for Karachi, Khan promised business community that PTI will take steps to bring down the cost of doing business to facilitate business and trade. “Business environment will be made better in the city to generate employment for the youth of Karachi,” he said.

Chairman PTI said despite tall claims of the present government people of Karachi are still facing hours of long loadshedding, however we will ensure supply of power at lower rates. He said Pakistan has the second youngest population in the world and Karachi has major share in this segment, however there are limited activities with regard to sports. “Playgrounds and parks will be provided to young generation of Karachi,” he said. ‘Better environment’ was the eighth point of PTI chief’s agenda. He said global environment is being gradually changing and Pakistan will be affected by global warming. “We will initiate a mega plantation drive in Karachi for better environment for next generation. Recycling plants will be set up to clean the sewerage water,” he said and added that for the first time in the country’s history KPK has planted one billion trees. In order to resolve transport issue, circular railway will be restored in Karachi to reduce the traffic burden on roads and provide best transportation services, he said. Presenting his 10th point, he said PTI will provide soft loans and set up skill development centers to create jobs for the youth of Karachi.