Imran Khan wants CEC to act like ex-NAB chief: Marriyum Aurangzeb

LAHORE: Federal Information and Broadcasting Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb on Tuesday said Imran Khan wanted the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikander Sultan Raja to act like former National Accountability Bureau (NAB) chairman Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal in his party’s foreign funding case.

Addressing a news conference here, she said Imran had laundered billions of dollars by receiving foreign funding in the bank accounts of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf office-bearers, which caused a huge loss to the national exchequer. “Imran Khan tried to reach out to the CEC through backdoor channels as he wanted him to play a role like that of ex-NAB chairman, but Sikander Sultan Raja will not become another Javed Iqbal at any cost,” she maintained.

The minister said Tayyaba Gul was held hostage at the Prime Minister’s House to blackmail the former NAB chairman for victimizing political opponents. The former Federal Investigation Agency director general was also pressurized to register cases against the-then opposition leaders. Imran was attacking the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) as it had reserved the decision in the PTI foreign funding case, which it could announce any time. She claimed that the PTI chief had the mindset of despotic German dictator Hitler. It was beyond understanding that Imran launched a scathing attack on the CEC who was appointed by him. “He will take no time to attack the Supreme Court of Pakistan if it gives a decision against him,” she said, adding that Imran’s demand for the CEC’s resignation manifests that he would want the head of any institution to quit if he gave a decision against him.

She said Imran Khan also attacked every media outlet which exposed his real face. His autocratic government gagged the media, shut the current affairs programmes of different media channels and imposed restrictions on the print media. He used to close down parliament if questions were raised over his government’s policies. She alleged that Imran also victimised political opponents by misusing his powers and even abducted the ECP staff after realising that his party’s candidate was going to lose in the Daska by-election.

She said Imran started targeting the state institutions after his ouster from the prime minister’s office. The institutions should take legal action against Imran who could up the ante if not stopped. She asked Imran why the decision in the PTI foreign funding case had been delayed for some eight years. There had been no change in the State Bank of Pakistan’s record regarding his party’s foreign funding. “Imran thinks that he is above the law and Constitution,” she said, recalling the ‘transgression of the Constitution by him while he was being ousted from power’. She said he even attacked the apex court when action was taken against him for violating the Constitution.

The minister said that in Punjab by-polls, the PTI lost five out of 20 seats which had been won by its candidates in the 2018 general elections. The sole objective of Imran Khan was to destabilise the state institutions and create anarchy and civil war in the country. He attacked the state institutions in his every speech. “Imran Khan has said in the past that he will set the ECP on fire if his party does not win all the 20 seats in the Punjab by-polls,” she said.

As regards the foreign conspiracy, Marriyum asked Imran Khan why he did not inform people the same day about the matter (when he came to know about the cipher) and set up an inquiry commission and dissolved assemblies while being in the power. She said Imran Khan rendered people jobless and ruined the national economy through his national and foreign policies. He was thrown out of the PM office by people for weakening the national institutions. She said Imran Khan was perturbed by the efficiency of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif who saved the country from default. “Economic stability is not possible without political stability and Imran Khan is deliberately following a strategy which hampers political stability in the country.”

“The general elections will be held whenever the government wants,” she said, adding that Imran had a chance to announce fresh elections when he was in power, but he rather preferred to beg support of different quarters. The coalition government would take every possible step to serve and facilitate the citizens. It was Imran Khan whose government signed an agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on tough conditions and then violated it to save his government. The coalition government, however, revived the IMF programme by taking difficult steps, which were best in the national interest.

She said the coalition government announced a free electricity scheme in Punjab, but it was Imran who moved the apex court against the relief. “Imran only wants a civil war in the country whether it comes from political instability or inflation and unemployment.” She said the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz still enjoyed the support of majority of people in Punjab. It secured 40 per cent votes in the Punjab by-elections. Despite the difficult steps taken by the PMLN under the coalition government, the party received an overwhelming response from the masses.

She lashed out at PTI leader Fawad Chaudhry, saying that he consistently lied in public. She said she was not like him as he remained the spokesman of some five political parties.