People don’t pay taxes due to distrust of government: Imran Khan

LAHORE: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan on Tuesday blamed mistrust of government as the reason behind people’s decision to not pay taxes.

Addressing an event at Shaukat Khanum Cancer Hospital, the PTI chief said the people of Pakistan are the country’s real strength.

“Unfortunately, instead of spending on people, [the government] chose to spend on palaces. We need a government that spends people’s money on the people themselves,” he vowed.

Khan expressed confidence that once such a [welfare] government comes into power, the public will not hesitate to pay taxes.

Criticising on US President Donald Trump, he said “such people have only one purpose: to make money.”

The PTI chairman said his late mother’s battle with cancer gave him the strength to build a cancer hospital in the country. The dire state of the hospitals he saw saddened him, he said.

Khan lamented that there was a time when Pakistan was making exemplary progress. “When I used to return to Pakistan after playing cricket in India, it used to seem I had come from a poor country to a rich one, but now [they are far ahead] of us.”

‘Imran Khan and Zardari have met behind the scenes’

State Interior Minister and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Tallal Chaudry on Tuesday claimed that PTI chairman Imran Khan and Pakistan Peoples Party co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari have met “behind the scenes.”

“Imran Khan is after the [position of] prime minister and Zardari is a candidate for president,” Tallal said.

The PML-N leader demanded that Khan make public the proceedings against the expelled members of his party.

“If Imran Khan [continues to] gather turncoats in his party, it is [obvious] that his party will witness [such people who sell off their conscience],” he added.