PTI chief presents Shaukat Khanum hospital for accountability

ISLAMABAD: In a fiery speech in the National Assembly on Wednesday, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chief Imran Khan presented accounts of the Shaukat Khanum Cancer Hospital to be investigated on the terms of reference (ToRs) that the prime minister will be probed on.

He appealed to the government to not bring in the charitable cancer hospital into politics.

“The opposition brought in the cancer hospital first in 1995 when they claimed I was using Zakat funds to run my election campaign. The result was the hospital faced a crisis in 1997 and 1998.”

He added that now the hospital has established its name and such politics does not affect it.

He offered to present accounts of the Shaukat Khanum Cancer Hospital for transparency check to the assembly. “Try Shaukat Khanum on the same ToRs that the Prime Minister will be tried on.”

“If I wanted to make money I would have made a sugar mill or a factory. Why would I create a charity hospital?”

He threatened street protest if the prime minister did not give a satisfactory answer to his name in the Panama Papers.

Democracy is accountable

He said that the basic principle of democracy was accountability. “Democracy has two aspects the government and opposition. The job of the government is to legislate and implement, the job of the opposition is to keep a check on the government. I am only doing my job,” he said.

The Panama Leaks was not something that the opposition came up with. "It is an international issue. A computer was hacked and lots of names came up in the Panama Papers. I am just asking for accountability."

He said that during his speech in the National Assembly the prime minister alleged that I have a palace in Bani Gala. “My question to you is you are the Prime Minister. You have NAB, FBR, come and investigate my source of income.”

He said that the Prime Minister needs to come up with an explanation for his name in the Panama Papers. “The policy of calling of every one corrupt will not work.”

Not named in Panama Papers

Imran Khan said that his name was never in the Panama Papers. Talking about his offshore company Niazi Services he said I played country cricket from 1971 till 1993. “I lived in London for six months. So I bought a flat and placed it in an offshore company.”

He added that he had always declared his London flat.

He said that all of his property was in his name. "I don't own a benami."

Talking about the government’s ToRs he said that the Chief Justice was right to call them “toothless”.

He added that if the prime minister had made the speech he made in the assembly yesterday in a European country he would have had to resign over it.

He said that the prime minister had links to the Panama Papers through two offshore companies. “Those companies were registered under Maryam Nawaz’s name. Two flats in Mayfair were bought through these companies.”

“The prime minister claims to have paid Rs10 billion in taxes, of that Rs8 billion is GST which the public pays too.”

He said that for deals with Al-Taufeeq bank $33 million were transferred. “Where did that money come from?”