ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan has admitted committing mistakes in awarding party tickets for the 2013 elections, saying money might have been involved in the process.

He, however, promised while addressing a function in Faisalabad that merit would be the sole criterion for the purpose in the coming polls.

Promising to provide an environment conducive to investment, Khan said a textile-centric policy was imperative to economy but the successive governments had failed to harvest the dividends of a cotton producing country.

“Fake, hollow and unrealistic claims are now being made about economic revival with an ulterior motive to gain political benefits in the upcoming general elections.

In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), no politician can do business.”

Imran said his party would make a policy to ensure that those in government did not benefit themselves. He said the PTI aimed at reviving the national economy and a consensus and egalitarian strategy had been evolved to mitigate the sufferings of people by exploiting the available resources in a most fair and transparent manners.

He lauded the efforts of Zafar Iqbal to formulate the policy by consulting all stakeholders from Faisalabad, Lahore Karachi, and Islamabad. He described the textile sector as the backbone of national economy and said it must be given top priority to earn precious foreign exchange in addition to creating job opportunities for the growing population of Pakistan with a clear objective to make the country a global leader once again in export of value-added textile products.

Imran said Pakistan had surplus production of cotton which could be utilised at more than one dozen stages of value addition but the previous governments ignored the important sector.