Amir Muqam does not care about Imran’s threat

ISLAMABAD: Adviser to the Prime Minister Eng Amir Muqam says he is not scared of registration of a case by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) government as threatened by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan for “inciting” protesting doctors.

“A case should have been lodged against Imran Khan for destroying Pakistan through his unproductive prolonged sit-in,” the adviser said when approached for his reaction on the PTI chief’s threat, hurled at a news conference in Peshawar on Tuesday in which he asked the KP government to book Amir Muqam for provoking the doctors to continue their agitation.

“I visited the protesting doctors at a hospital which is close to my Peshawar residence to express solidarity with them,” Amir Muqam said and added that they have genuine demands, which should be accepted.

He denied that he incited the protesters to persist with their strike and said he wants the KP government to resolve the problems of the doctors so that patients were saved from hardships they were undergoing for quite some time.

Amir Muqam claimed that there was visible contradiction between the words and deeds of Imran Khan.

“Double standards aren’t acceptable. He addresses the protesting Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) employees in Karachi and bucks them up to continue their protest. “But I met the doctors just to articulate my support to them, he is irked.”

He said another example of doublespeak of the PTI chief was that while Imran Khan opposes the invocation of the essential services act in the PIA for a just cause and demands its immediate withdrawal, he enforces the same law in the KP hospitals and justifies its application.

The adviser claimed that through his several protests, the PTI chief excelled in inciting people for a number of times. 

Amir Muqam said he has been targeted for many times by terrorists and lost some relatives in these strikes, but he was never fearful of the militants. “I can’t be intimidated by Imran Khan’s threat to register a case. I can only pray for him.”

He said that Imran Khan should have patience and tolerance to his political rivals’ activities. “The PTI chief should at least allow others to do what he himself frequently does. There can’t be two principles for similar acts.”

The adviser said the protesting doctors should be given a patient hearing by the KP government to accept their demands, which are fair. He believed that the PTI has unnecessarily locked horns with the doctors while the contentious issue can be resolved prudently.

Amir Muqam said that the record shows that unprecedented damage was done to Pakistan in several spheres by the protracted sit-in of the PTI, backed by the similar protest of the Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT). Instead of expressing remorse and repentance for paralyzing Pakistan for months, Imran Khan is lecturing others to do what he himself never did, the adviser said.

He alleged that the PTI chairman was frustrated over his consistent failures and because of these setbacks he was doing and saying anything, disregarding the ground realities.