True leader spends money on public welfare: Imran Khan

Taking a jibe at former Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan said that a true and a patriotic leader spends money on the welfare of the citizens and not on extravagant things.

Addressing an Ulema Mushaikh conference here, Khan claimed that Sharif was accountable for (Pakistan) Rs. 3, 00,000 crores.

"I would like to ask the people who stood by Nawaz Sharif, don't you have to answer Allah? He is accountable for Rs 3, 00,000 crores, the money which went into the accounts of his children. Expensive flats were purchased by using his children's names. Everyone knew that he (Sharif) is lying. Everything was exposed in the (accountability) court," he said.

The cricketer-turned-politician said that Sharif had got a lot of opportunities to back away from his misdeeds and serve the country properly, but instead chose to mint huge amounts of money.

Continuing his tirade against Sharif and his Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party, he asserted, "In the last ten years, Pakistan's debts went from Rs. 6,000 Arab to Rs 27,000 Arab and the (Pakistan) rupee spiralled down from 60/dollar to 125/dollar. If we want to pull Pakistan out of this, we'll have to run it in a way, it has been done never before. What happened yesterday was the first time in Pakistan."

Lamenting at the lack of basic facilities in the country, Khan underscored that 25 million children were not enrolled in schools and many of them were dying due to the absence of clean drinking water and proper food, Samaa TV reported.

The 65-year-old PTI supremo further said that there should be equal laws for the citizens of the country in order to make the nation a welfare state.

Blaming the PML-N for not addressing poverty and corruption, Khan asserted, "A small class is getting richer but the condition of poverty -ridden people remained unchanged. Even corruption has increased, which is affecting people's lives. I urge the people to come together to root out corruption from the country."

On Friday, after the accountability court pronounced the Avenfield reference case verdict, Khan said that "it is the beginning of a new Pakistan."

While addressing a rally in Swat as part of his party's electoral campaign, Khan opined that it was the first time in the country's history that "the powerful were being held accountable for the first time."

On Friday, Sharif was sentenced to 10 years of imprisonment and a fine of eight million pounds in the Avenfield reference case, while his daughter Maryam was sentenced to 7 years of jail and fined two million pounds by the accountability court.

With this ruling, Maryam is barred from contesting the general elections slated to be held on July 25. Her husband Captain (retd) Muhammad Safdar was also sentenced to one year of imprisonment.

The court also issued permanent arrest warrants of Sharif's sons - Hassan Nawaz and Hussain Nawaz respectively.

Sharif and Maryam are in London since June 14 visiting the former's wife, Kulsoom Nawaz, who is undergoing cancer treatment there.

Sharif later said he was not a thief and would return to Pakistan soon after his wife regained consciousness, although he did not give a specific date or time.