Speaker has nothing to do with this matter: Imran

Says will not appear before Ayaz Sadiq if summoned

ISLAMABAD: Reacting to the filing of a reference against him, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan said on Friday National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq had nothing to do with the matter and he will not appear before him if summoned.

Imran said the gang was blackmailing him and questioned the government why it remained silent for three years if he had done anything wrong.Talking to media persons here, he asserted that the government might file a hundred references against him but the PTI would not renege on its stand and go to any extent for the accountability of the prime minister with regard to the revelations made in the PanamaLeaks.

The PTI chairman threw a challenge to the rulers to use whatever law they wanted to against him, but he would not budge on his proposed movement for accountability of corrupt politicians. “I am not at all afraid of accountability, why are they afraid?” he asked.

He maintained that the government was digging out his files now to silence the PTI on its demand for the accountability of the prime minister vis-à-vis his children’s offshore assets. He pointed out that in democracy, a prime minister would never hurl allegations, a ploy adopted by mafias and gangs. He regretted that politicians were always on the look for striking ‘muk muka’ (deals) to get away with corruption.

Imran sounded extremely confident about the success of the PTI’s movement for accountability against corruption. He highly praised Federal Minister for Interior Ch Nisar Ali Khan for his stance before his Indian counterpart at the Saarc interior ministers moot. He advocated an improvement of relations with all the neighbouring countries and collective efforts for peace in the region.

About the adoption of the amended accountability law in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Imran said that the law had been made more effective and now no politician would manage to make personal gains. He appreciated the PTI-led government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and said the latest legislation was unprecedented even in Pakistan’s history and a change would be quite visible in the wake of these crucial measures.

The PTI chief wished that the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) functioned on its own against corruption but it did not. However, he claimed in KP, the provincial Ehtesab Commission would encourage people to point out corruption and such people would be paid 25 per cent after recovery of the looted money.

About the establishment of the Galiyat Development Authority (GDA), Imran explained that for this purpose an act had been passed by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly. He added a university would also be set up, besides all the rest houses and the Chief Minister’s House were being handed over to the GDA.

For the first time, he noted, police in the province had legally been de-politicised and now none would be able to push for appointments in the department of his or her choice, as all recruitments would be made through the NTS.

Meanwhile, PTI’s Central Information Secretary Naeemul Haq charged the government’s reference against Imran was based on mala fide intention and a ploy of black-mailing.He claimed the government would have to face embarrassment, as the nation knew the NA speaker was loyal to the Sharif family instead of the Constitution and parliament. He recalled Imran had provided documents to the speaker after the prime minister’s speech in the National Assembly, not based on facts, who neither sought response from Nawaz Sharif on that nor asked for an investigation into those documents.

He was of the view that after the Panama Papers’ revelations and the prime minister’s ‘untrue speech’, the speaker should have initiated action against him. He wanted the prime minister to show courage and present himself for accountability.