Jailed former PM claims some PTI members are in touch with his opponents and they want to dismantle the party n Says he had shown restraint and did not de-notify Gen retired Bajwa n Compares present political situation to that of East Pakistan n Gohar says Imran plans filing lawsuit against NAB chief, witnesses.

 

ISLAMABAD/RAWALPINDI   -  Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan on Saturday ex­pressed his reservations about some members of his own party who he be­lieves wanted to dismantle the party. 

As rift widens within the ranks of the PTI, its jailed leader and former PM Im­ran Khan says some of our people are in touch with his opponent, and they wanted to dismantle the PTI party. 

Imran disclosed this while talking to reporters inside the Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi on Saturday. Imran’s reve­lation comes just one day after another PTI leader Shehryar Afridi made simi­lar remarks without naming anyone.

Addressing a public gathering in Kohat, Afridi stated that there were some “hypocrites” who are still a part of the Khan-founded party. Af­ridi went to say that there were some “snakes” and “hypocrites” who were part of the PTI and whoever betrays the party will be excluded from it.

Talking about the “black sheep” within the ranks of the PTI party, Im­ran said that these people were accus­ing Bushra Bibi, his wife, of being an American agent. Apparently extending an olive branch to his rivals, Khan said:

“If I can meet [former chief of army staff] General (retd) Qamar Javed Bajwa twice after he top­pled my government then I can meet anyone”. “At this time, it is not my personal issue but Paki­stan’s.” About Gen (retd) Bajwa, the PTI founder said that the former COAS stabbed him in the back. “I could have de-notified Bajwa,” Imran Khan said, add­ing that he had shown restraint. He said: “Despite all this, we formed a committee to meet General (retd) Bajwa.”

The PTI leader was of the view that he never wanted a confron­tation with the Army. To anoth­er query, he said that General (retd) Bajwa and ex-spymas­ter retired Lt-Gen Faiz Hamid told him about the corruption of PPP Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari and the Sharif family. “If I quit politics today, everything will be fine,” he claimed.

Referring to the alleged rig­ging in the February 8 general elections, the jailed PTI found­er said that attempts were be­ing made to control them by “slashing” their mandate. The former premier also commend­ed Islamabad High Court (IHC) judges for raising their voic­es against the spy agencies’ al­leged interference in judicial af­fairs.

In view of the situation, Khan said: “Who will invest in a country where judges are receiving threats.” To anoth­er question, the PTI founder vowed to file a case against the National Accountability Bu­reau (NAB) chairman and an alleged approver Inam Shah for their roles in the Toshakha­na reference.

“Bushra Bibi was sentenced to break me,” he said.

‘EAST PAKISTAN’

The former prime minister also said that the erosion of democratic mandate and con­trol being witnessed in the country nowadays is similar to the situation witnessed in erst­while East Pakistan. He added that the credibility of nation­al institutions was tarnished when they chose to align with “thieves”. 

He claimed that the real val­ue of the jewellery set was Rs18 million and not what was claimed in the reference. Imran also claimed that when he was arrested, police officials seized his passport and chequebook from his bedroom and alleged that it was an intelligence agen­cy which enlisted an employee of Toshakhana and Inam Shah as witnesses in the reference. 

Citing the involvement of a part-time salesman in Dubai, Imran alleged that he was the one who estimated the value of the Graff jewellery set that im­plicated him in the Toshakha­na case. “Fawad Chaudhry held a press conference, yet he was still coerced into becoming a witness. If Parvez Elahi and Shah Mahmood Qureshi hold a press conference today, all their cases will vanish,” Imran claimed.

Imran also talked about an al­leged assassination plot against him at the judicial complex on March 18, indicating that the complex was overtaken by nu­merous individuals in plain clothes 24 hours prior to his ar­rival. “Why is the CCTV footage of the judicial complex not be­ing brought forward?”

“Mujeebur Rahman’s majority would have ended Yahya Khan’s power,” he emphasized that the plan resulted in the “theft” of the country’s mandate, drawing parallels to historical events in East Pakistan.

Imran referred to Mujib’s election victory as documented in the Hamudur Rahman com­mission report and alleged that currently there are ongoing at­tempts to steal the nation’s democratic mandate.

‘LEGAL ACTION AGAINST NAB CHAIRMAN’ 

PTI chairman Barrister Go­har Ali Khan on Saturday an­nounced founding party chair­man Imran Khan’s plans to pursue legal action against the Chairman of the National Ac­countability Bureau (NAB) and approvers for damages. HE ex­pressed skepticism regard­ing the government’s assertion that Bushra Bibi was not poi­soned, insisting on conducting tests at Shaukat Khanum Hos­pital for confirmation. The PTI chairman echoed the sentiment of the founding party chairman Imran Khan, likening the pres­ent circumstances to those of 1971.

Expressing concern over re­cent electoral setbacks, he called for PTI to be allowed to play a robust opposition role in assemblies. Mr Gohar empha­sised the party’s demand to re­frain from electing a chairman and deputy chairman from the KP Assembly until Senate elec­tions are held. Additionally, Bar­rister Ali Zafar has been nom­inated as the candidate for the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate, according to PTI Chair­man’s announcement. The op­position party in the centre also nominated Senator Aon Abbas Bappi as its parliamentary lead­er in the house. Talking to re­porters outside Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail, PTI Chairman Go­har Ali Khan also made the an­nouncement of these two nom­inations following his meeting with imprisoned party founder Imran Khan. Former prime min­ister Khan has given formal ap­proval in this regard, he added.

The coveted position of the leader of the opposition in the Senate is lying vacant since PTI Senator Dr Shahzad Waseem retired on March 11after com­pleting his six-year term.

Gohar said that PTI had been discriminated against by post­poning Senate elections in Khy­ber Pakhtunkhwa (KP).

“We demand that the election of the chairman and deputy chairman should be postponed for the time being as long as the Senate election in KP is not held,” he said, adding that the province has no complete rep­resentation in the house.

PTI chief underlined that the party already had a stance that elections of speaker and dep­uty speaker of any provincial legislature, the chief minister of any province and the prime minister should not be held till the electoral college is incom­plete due to vacancy of seats reserved for non-Muslims and minorities in the parliament. At that time, it was said that elections could be held and the party’s stance was turned down, he also said.

He said that PTI would raise the issue in the upcoming ses­sion of the Senate on the point of order.

It is likely that the fresh ses­sion of the Senate would be summoned next week for ad­ministration of oath from the senators-elect and for the elec­tion of two coveted positions of the house. The ruling Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) has nom­inated former prime minister Yousuf Raza Gillani as its can­didate for the slot of chairman Senate. The slot of the deputy chairman Senate will go to the ruling Pakistan Muslim league-Nawaz (PML-N) under a pow­er-sharing formula to run the central government.

On April 2 – the election day of the Senate, the Election Com­mission of Pakistan (ECP) had postponed the election of the upper house on 11 seats of KP following controversy arising out of non-administration of oath to members elected on re­served seats in the provincial assembly.

At present, the 96-mem­ber upper house has a total of 85 senators and the remaining seats are lying vacant. Legal ex­perts say that there is no bar le­gally on conduct of elections of two Senate positions but it will be inappropriate to do so when the house is not complete.

After the Senate election in KP, PTI is set to become the sin­gle largest party in the house with around 27 senators.