Usman Buzdar was a mistake but too late to sack him: Zulfi Bukhari

LONDON: Former minister for Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Zulfiqar Bukhari has made shocking revelations, claiming that former prime minister Imran Khan soon realised his mistake of picking Usman Buzdar for the slot of chief minister Punjab.

Bukhari was speaking at the SOAS University of London on the topic of ‘Democracy in Crisis’, organsied by SOAS Pakistan Discussion Forum. Despite facing severe criticism from within his party and certain quarters for appointing relatively unknown Buzdar as the chief minister in 2018, Imran remained steadfast in his choice. Even when relations with party leaders such as Abdul Aleem Khan and others were soured, Imran refused to budge on Buzdar.

Bukhari, however, said that Imran had eventually realised that keeping Buzdar as the chief minister was the ‘wrong choice’, but it was not appropriate to tell him that. Bukhari said “I don’t think he was a good chief minister and was able to perform and deliver. By the time calls against Buzdar grew after two years, it was too late and changing him after a year or two would have made the post a revolving door.

Bukhari said about alleged corruption allegations against former first lady Bushra Bibi’s best fiend Farhat Shahzadi (alias Farah Gogi), that if the allegations are proven, she should be punished for her crimes. To a question, he said the 9 May attacks on military installations were horrific and there are no two opinions about it.

The former minister said: “We have condemned all forms of violence, especially the attack on Jinnah House which has a sacred value. We have always stood against violence always. Bukhari that the PTI government made many mistakes in four years and given another chance to those mistakes would not be repeated.

Answering a question, Bukhari said that two people closest to Imran Khan during the PTI govt were behind making a false case against him. “The Ring Road case against me was framed by two people who were then closest to Imran Khan: one of them (Azam Khan) has now become an approver against Khan and another (Shehzad Akbar) has left Pakistan. The purpose was to campaign against me. I resigned from my position and didn’t return to the government after that.”

He said PTI was ready to talk to all political parties, including PMLN and PPP. But, he said, the PMLN was not interested as it saw PTI as a rival In Punjab and PPP had no such issue in Punjab. “We want them to sit with us and talk about elections and democracy”. He said things initially were all fine between PTI and Army but issues started later on. He said: “As for General Bajwa is concerned, he could have suggested things to the PM and not dictate.”

Imran Khan’s former special assistant said that over 13000 party workers were arrested after 9 May violence and put in dire conditions. Now the rest have been released and around 7000 remain in jails.