Imran Khan announces himself winner in disputed Pakistan polls, says will probe rigging charges

While the final tally is yet to be officially announced, Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf  (PTI) party has emerged a clear leader winning 119 seats out of  272 seats. Results of 219 have been declared so far.

PTI Twitter handle also started a hashtag "PrimeMinisterImranKhan" with every post.

Responding to the opposition parties' allegations of rigging he said "these have been the cleanest elections in Pakistan's history" and then added:"Anyone who has issues of rigging; we will help you facilitate and we will open up any constituency that you want for investigation. When we asked for probes, we were not facilitated but now we will do it differently."

"We are ready to investigate any rigging claims with the opposition," he said.

Cricket-turned politician Imran Khan, who now is posturiing to become Pakistan's next Prime Minister, has pledged that he will give efforts to stand with downtrodden people after he assumes power.

In the press conference, Khan threw light on a number of issues on which his government will implement.

Prioritising the poor section of the country, Khan said: "I promise to you my biggest effort today will be to stand with our most downtrodden. Our minorities, our domestic staff; anyone under the poverty line."

Giving stress on health and educational facilities, Khan said: "I promised you I would make a cancer hospital, you gave me the money and we now have two cancer hospitals in Pakistan today. World class giving 70 percent treatment free.

"I promised you I would make a university in the most remote area of Pakistan, where poor students would get scholarships, I proved to you and I did it."

As counting of votes for Pakistan's general elections continued on Thursday, Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) maintained a strong lead over jailed former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League, bagging 119 seats, only 18 away from the majority mark (137).

PML-N trails far behind with 61 and the PPP-Parliamentarians (PPP-P) is at third spot with 40 seats.

Reacting to his victory, the PTI chairman said: "Allah has given me an opportunity to serve the country so that I can implement my manifesto which I had thought 22 years ago."

Khan also mentioned that curbing corruption and strengthening laws will be one of the top priorities of his newly-elected government. In this case, Khan said his own people should not be spared from the eyes of law.

If the polling ends with the victory for Imran, he could very well be joining a rare group of former sportspersons who have gone on to hold important political positions in their country.

Referring to his decision to join politics, the PTI chariman said: "I came to politics to uplift my country which has gone down due to the collapse of government machineries."

"When I was a young, my country was doing well, but later it has gone down," he said.

Khan has tried to paint an image of his foreign policies with other nations as well.

Envisioning a balanced policy with the US, Khan said: "As far as America is concerned, we want to work on a policy that is mutually beneficial. Not a One way relationship. There needs to be balance."

Aiming an open-border system with Afghanistan, the PTI leader said: "We want to work in every possible way to ensure peace in Afghanistan. I would love an open border system like the EU with Afghanistan."

"Afghanistan is that neighbour of ours that has seen the most human misery and damage in the name of wars. The people of Afghanistan need peace, and Pakistan wants peace in Afghanistan."

Khan took a swipe at India over the Kashmir issue which has been a reason for the discord between the two nations.

Regarding the Kashmir issue, Khan said: "Kashmir remains our biggest contention. The human rights violations over 30 years; and the people of Kashmir have suffered massively."

Khan believes bilateral talks with India might resolve the issue. He said: "The leadership of Pakistan and India now need to come to the table to resolve this and end the blame games. We are stuck at square one.

"If India comes and takes one step towards us, we will take two steps toward them. Right now it is one sided where India is constantly just blaming us," said Khan whose party PTI is short of an overall majority and might need coalition partners.

Acknowledging foreign policy as a problem for Pakistan, Khan said he aims to improve relations with China.

"We will strengthen and improve our relations with China. We want to work towards success of CPEC. We also want to send teams to learn poverty alleviation from China. How to lift our most poor who can’t even eat two meals a day."

While he took on India, Khan spared China from his attacks as the PTI leader heaped praises upon Beijing over its commitment towards curbing corruption.

Khan said: "The second thing we can learn from China is how they curbed corruption and set the example that corruption does not pay."