Sindh Information Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon has said the “bad intentions of former prime minister Imran Khan” could be gauged from the fact that he, instead of distancing himself from the statement of Shahbaz Gill, attempted to defend it”.
Speaking at a press conference on Thursday, he said the chairman of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf had been constantly maligning the national institutions. Memon mentioned that the press conference addressed by Khan the previous day was nothing but a monologue showing well that he was quite upset and nervous.
He said the PTI chairman in the press conference had mentioned Tosha Khan, so he should know that Asif Ali Zardari during his stint as president had lawfully obtained vehicles gifted by other heads of state, and the same cars were still under his personal use and he didn’t sell those gifts to anyone.
In contrast, Khan obtained the gifts from the Tosha Khan, sold them in the market and deposited in the public exchequer a part of the sale proceeds, Memon said. He demanded cases should be instituted against Khan for selling for his personal gain the gifts he had received from other heads of state during his tenure, saying that earlier cases had been lodged against Zardari related to the Tosha Khana gifts.
He alleged that the PTI chairman had been working to implement “the agenda of enemies of the country”, and the former PM in this regard had the support of anti-Pakistan forces. “One should keep in mind what the statements of the late Dr Israr Ahmed and Hakim Muhammad Said were about Imran Khan,” he said.
Memon said Khan had the previous day also talked about the Taliban. “But everyone knows with whom the Taliban were in contact,” he said. He said the former PM had said the Taliban had extorted money from MPAs, but Barrister Muhammad Ali Saif (special assistant to the KP chief minister on information) clarified that the Taliban were not involved in such activities.
The provincial information minister said the peace had been restored in the tribal belt of the country owing to innumerable sacrifices rendered by security agencies. “But Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has been in a bad shape now due to the PTI’s rule so much so that its CM and Imran Khan couldn’t address a public meeting in Bajaur and Swat,” he said.
He alleged that Khan’s narrative completely stood against the cause of national integrity, but the former PM should keep in mind that people wouldn’t let his conspiracy succeed. “Imran Khan firstly predicted that the country could be disintegrated into three parts, later he talked about the atomic bomb and lastly he gave the example of Bangladesh.”
He said the PTI’s leadership should apologise to the nation for the anti-military statement of Shahbaz Gill. He said the social media campaigns backed by the PTI since its ouster from power showed well that it was conspiring against the national institutions. He mentioned that an inquiry had been launched to expose the elements behind the adverse social media campaign after the martyrdom of Pakistan Army officers in the helicopter crash in Balochistan.
He predicted that Khan would be disqualified from contesting the election as the result of the foreign funding case and he would be jailed for seven years. He said all bank accounts of Khan would also be frozen. “No protest would take place as there would be business as usual in the country after the arrest of Imran Khan,” he said.