Imran promised to make me Punjab CM, claims Elahi

LAHORE: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf President and former Punjab chief minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi has claimed that party Chairman Imran Khan has promised to make him the chief minister if the PTI wins in Punjab.

Talking to a media outlet in an interview here on Saturday, Pervaiz Elahi said: “I gave him [Imran] in writing a signed document on dissolving Punjab Assembly and also attached my identity card with it and told him to write the date of dissolution of the assembly himself. We respected him and he also respected us and offered me to become the central president of the party and promised me that Moonis Elahi or I will be the next chief minister of the party after the election,” he claimed.

Elahi further claimed: “We respect the real establishment, which is the backbone of the country, and we still have ideal relations with them. But today there are some intruders in it, so we cannot be with them. We have no harmony with them, so all efforts of talks are meaningless and we are not even sorry for what they are doing.”

Answering a question about the police and Anti-Corruption Establishment raid at his house, the PTI leader said the same people were behind this action who were after Imran Khan. He further said that he didn’t want to name anyone because everyone knew who they were. He further said that they were not undiscovered and said he prayed to protect Pakistan from their evil. They are real terrorists.

Elahi, without naming anyone, further claimed that he was pressured not to join the PTI. He said he was told at the time of joining the PTI, and in return, he told them that it was not their job to ask people to join or leave any political parties.

Criticising the current team of the establishment, the former chief minister said that Imran Khan does not want a fight at all. He said Imran’s fight was with Bajwa Sahib and now he has gone away, new people have come. He said the new people should have thought that the team they have brought in would sink their boat. He added that we have also gone to court against those who will depend on this team.

In response to a question, if there was any chance of settlement between Imran Khan and the establishment, Elahi asked with whom peace talks should be made. He said Imran Khan’s fight was with the people who have particular mindsets and thoughts. “Unless they change their minds, the path will become more difficult. We are fighting with this set-up and this mindset,” he said, adding, they think that Pakistan has collapsed economically and morally.

Elahi thinks the ongoing political chaos can only end if the Supreme Court gave the right kind of judgment. “The chief justice is trying for this. Now look at the Sharifs; those who do not support them, they catch or abuse them but this time they cannot hold the judiciary,” he stated.

He said that Khawaja Asif was deputed to abuse the judiciary daily, and in his statements, he was challenging the judges and threatening them that they would be called in parliament. He said he knew that Khwaja Asif got his seat by requesting Bajwa Sahib.

On a question that Imran Khan was claiming that the assemblies were dissolved on the orders of General Bajwa, the former Punjab chief minister said: “Yes, Khan Sahib gave this statement but I have not had any discussion with him over this issue.”

He added that the assemblies simply broke up, but everyone had seen the aftereffects. “Now Khan Sahib believes that I give him good advice and people reminded him also, so now he admits that he is getting benefits from my experience. Let’s see what the Supreme Court will do now.”

Talking about General Bajwa, Pervaiz Elahi said he thought that if Bajwa Sahib and Imran Khan sat together for 10 to 15 minutes by any means, all the differences of power would have been resolved. “Now the Sharifs are eating the earnings of these differences,” he said, adding, that it had always been their policy and politics and they always invested people’s money and enjoyed the show.

Elahi ended the interview with the comment: “Don’t you see who is walking around wearing diamonds?”