People reject Imran’s ‘Jail Bharo’ drive: Rana Sana

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Interior Rana Sanaullah Wednesday said people have totally rejected Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)’s “Jail Bharo Tehreek” (court arrest drive).

Addressing a press conference in the federal capital, the interior minister said that PTI Chairman Imran Khan wanted to use his innocent party workers for a conspiracy but the drive failed even before it started.

He said that the government had made arrangements for arresting of 500 people but only three to four hundred people appeared. He said 80 people entered the prison vans, adding that three, or four people from Imran’s coterie have also been nabbed.

The minister said that Imran Khan considers his political rivals his enemies, adding that the government would not again let the country be taken, hostage.

Separately, addressing a press conference, Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb alleged that Imran Khan’s ‘Jail Bharo’ movement was a conspiracy against the country.

She said the underprivileged segments of society were suffering because of the former premier’s 'thefts and robberies'.

Marriyum maintained that Imran was evading cases before various institutions including high courts, district courts, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), and National Accountability Bureau (NAB) as he did not have any answers.

“After several abandoned plans in the past nine months, he has hatched a new conspiracy in the form of the Jail Bharo movement,” she said, adding the movement should be called Jail Bacho (save from incarceration).

Calling the movement a “drama”, she questioned why 200 innocent people were being arrested when Imran Khan was the one being summoned and PTI leaders were being asked about the cypher conspiracy and Toshakhana (gift depository) case.

“These are not political arrests, these are criminal arrests,” she stated and reiterated that Imran needed to give answers.

“Nawaz Sharif went to jail with his children. You [Imran] stay in your Zaman Park bunker with your children roaming in Britain,” she said and asked why others should go to jail while the “criminal” was sitting in his residence.

She maintained that the Jail Bharo movement was not for the populace, but was rather a conspiracy against the country.

“If you sympathised with the country why did you ruin foreign relations and hike petrol, LNG, sugar, and flour prices during your tenure,” she questioned.

Marriyum furthered that Imran himself used to call PML-Q leader Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi the “biggest dacoit of the country” but was now supporting him and praising him for becoming party leader.

She stated that Imran alleged a foreign conspiracy after his ouster and now claims that there was no conspiracy.

“He filled his pockets during his term and left. After the constitutional vote of no confidence against him, he forced ministers, the National Assembly speaker and the president to behave in an unconstitutional manner,” she added.

The information minister continued that he asked his supporters to storm the Lahore High Court (LHC) when the court summoned him, thereby leading people astray and attacking the judiciary.

“He will not stop,” she said.

According to the minister, the ‘Jail Bharo’ “drama” should begin with Imran’s arrest after he “robbed and harmed the country” but had no answers for anything.

“That is why he is starting this movement,” she added.

Marriyum maintained that the “performance” needed to be shut down.

Meanwhile, Federal Minister Saad Rafique has criticised PTI Chairman Imran Khan for launching his ‘Jail Bharo Tehreek’ Talking to the media here, Saad Rafique said a party’s leader should offer his arrest first, but Imran Khan was securing bail for himself while workers were being asked to give arrests. He said Imran Khan had lost his credibility in public due to his dual stance in all matters.

Referring to Pervaiz Elahi joining PTI, Saad Rafique said when in need, Imran Khan can do anything.

He said the political governments should be allowed to complete their term and political vendetta must come to an end in the country. He said that he personally opposed the arrests of political workers.

Khawaja Saad Rafique claimed that Nawaz Sharif and his family members spent time in jail, and several PML-N workers were sent to jail as well but none of them cried, a direct reference to Fawad Chaudhry who broke into tears when reminded of his children visiting him in jail.

Earlier, in a tweet, Saad Rafique had said non-bailable arrest warrants were issued for Shahid Khaqan Abbasi for just a minor delay while courts waited for Imran Khan for several hours. Courts interference in administrative matters will hamper the functioning of the state, he added.

Meanwhile, addressing a press conference separately, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on Interior Attaullah Tarar said the PTI’s drama of the “Jail Bharo” drive badly flopped as the people had shown the least interest to stand by the ‘’cheaters’’.

The drive was, in fact, aimed at escaping from being jailed as no top PTI leader turned up to court arrest today, he said.

Tarar said PTI Chairman Imran Khan and his spouse would have to appear before the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in connection with the charges framed against them.

There were past precedents, he added.

The female family members of Aleem Khan, Jehangir Tareen and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had to face trials while Maryam Nawaz was even imprisoned.

He said Imran Khan’s wife had sold out the Toshakhana gifts worth billions of rupees and her friend Farah Gogi was her accomplice in that crime.

All of them would have to face accountability for the embezzlement of the national wealth, he added.

The SAPM said Umar Farooq, who had purchased the watches stolen from the Toshakhana, had publicly presented the evidence, while the receipt made public by Imran Khan’s family that the watches were sold to a vendor in Sector F-6 of Islamabad, seemed to be fake.

Farah Gogi, he said, even used a private jet for money laundering and selling state gifts abroad.

Farah Gogi and her husband minted money over postings and transfers in Punjab, Tarar added.

The SAPM said Imran Khan was scared of being imprisoned for the crime of stealing gifts from the Toshakhana and others and that was why he was trying to evade court trials.

He claimed that an amount of Rs1.6 billion was embezzled and transferred to the accounts of Farah Gogi.

A `cash boy’ of Farah Gogi was apprehended by the Federal Investigation Agency a few days back from the Islamabad airport and an inquiry was underway in that regard.