Imran doing politics over dead bodies: minister

LAHORE: Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Marriyum Aurangzeb Sunday said that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan wanted to create unrest just to achieve his agenda of destabilising the country.

Addressing a press conference at Model Town, she said Imran has nothing to do with the country’s economy and progress, and now he was doing politics on the dead bodies.

She said now people were asking questions from Imran about his long marches, politics over the death of party workers, cypher conspiracy, money laundering, Toshakhana, Tyrian White case and others. She added that three-time former prime minister Nawaz Sharif had always appeared before courts in cases registered against him and always respected the judiciary but never talked of creating chaos and anarchy in the country.

The other PMLN leaders had also appeared before the courts and the party never used its workers and followers for the sake of politics as it did not believe in such politics, she maintained.

The federal minister said that whenever the courts summoned Imran, he used various tactics to evade appearance and maligned the judiciary and system. A murder case was registered against Imran by the Punjab police on the basis of evidence including video footage, adding that the PTI chairman was the only beneficiary of death of Zille Shah.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had never indulged in politics of revenge, but Imran, during his tenure, used every tactics to victimise his political opponents, particularly the PMLN leadership.

She said PTI worker Zille Shah’s body was shifted to a hospital in a PTI leader Raja Shakeel’ s vehicle and the police and Rescue 1122 were not approached for the purpose. She said that the Punjab police had solved the case through footage and other evidence, and revealed all facts and figures.

“If Imran Khan was aggrieved over the death of Zille Shah, why he preferred to stay at home for hatching a conspiracy, aiming to blame the government over the death, she wondered.

The PTI leadership insisted to the father of Zille Shah to blame the government for his son’s death, she alleged.

Marriyum said that the federal government, despite the challenging circumstances owing to International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme agreement, had announced biggest-ever Ramzan package to provide relief to people of the country.

She said Nawaz Sharif was the first prime minister whose government completed the IMF programme. She said that Imran had got played the audio of PMLN leader Maryam Nawaz and tried to compare it with his own, but he once again failed in his political agenda to defame Maryam. Imran had badly been exposed before the people and his own workers, she claimed.

The minister said that the PTI chief had hatched a conspiracy over cypher and alleged friendly country when his government was ousted through the no-confidence vote. The PTI’s baseless allegations had affected Pakistan’s relations with the country, she recalled. When Imran realised his mistake, he started backtracking on his narrative.

The information minister said that the PTI was the party which had attacked the national institutions including the PTV in Islamabad. During the Senate elections, the PTI indulged in horse trading, and its evidence in the form of audio leaks was also available.

To a question, the minister said that the PTI made every attempt to foil negotiations with the IMF. An audio-leak of phone call between former KP chief minister, finance minister and Punjab finance minister, who were talking about writing a letter to the IMF for stopping the deal with the government, also showed that the party was not sincere with the nation.

To another query, she said that during the PTI rule, the worst media curbs were imposed and journalists were targeted to suppress their voices. She said that the rallies and so-called marches of the PTI were not peaceful as their workers and followers attacked the police personnel and injured them.

Commenting sarcastically, she said the PTI chief was fit medically for leading the rallies and marches aimed at creating unrest in the country, but he was escaping courts in multiple cases on the pretext of his health condition. She said that Imran would have to appear in courts in cases of money-laundering, foreign funding and others, as nobody was above the law.

Nawaz, Shehbaz, Maryam and Hamza Shehbaz presented themselves for accountability and appeared before the courts in the fabricated cases and nothing was proved in any case, she concluded.