Why Shahbaz delayed reply about Faisal Subhan: Imran

PESHAWAR: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan on Thursday said that Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif was involved in corruption worth Rs9,000 billion for the past nine years and he asked why Shahbaz Sharif took one and a half years to give reply on the issue of Faisal Subhan who was involved in corruption pertaining to Ashiana Housing scheme in Punjab.

He said that by rejecting his party’s proposal to jointly contest the Senate election, the opposition had proved it was using money to secure seats. Talking to reporters after holding a meeting with his party’s MPAs at the Chief Minister House, he said that his party’s government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had proposed to the opposition parties for fielding unanimous candidates on the basis of their numerical strength in the provincial assembly to block horse-trading but that was rejected.

“Those who don’t even have two members in the assembly are also contesting Senate election. Obviously, this means they will use money to buy votes,” he said. He argued that the PTI lawmakers would take part in the Senate polls under a commitment to their party and would vote for the PTI nominees on March 3.

He said that those who had their vested interest did not want to change the system of the election for the Senate. “I discussed Senate election with my party members. We will change the existing procedure of the Senate election after coming into power. The PTI will win the 2018 election with the support of the people,” he maintained.

Chief Minister Pervaiz Khattak, provincial Minister for Information Shah Farman, Minister for Education Muhammad Atif Khan, Minister for Forests Ishtiaq Urmar, and others were present on the occasion.

The PTI chairman observed that some elements were criticising the “Billion Tree Tsunami project” ignoring the fact that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was the only province “that has an excellent system”.

He quoted the chief justice for appreciating the existing system of government in KP and challenged the opposition leaders to pay a visit to the province to see the changes and projects themselves.

Imran Khan said that putting Pakistan on the FATF watch list due to issues of money-laundering and terror financing was the failure of the government’s foreign policy. He said that his opponents had termed him Taliban Khan when he had opposed military operations in the country. He argued that he had opposed the action to end militancy and argued the need for dialogue.

The PTI chairman said that there were allegations against the present Prime Minister regarding the deals he made for LNG supply while serving as a federal minister. He said it was astonishing that the bureaucrats staged demonstrations on the directives of Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif when former head of Lahore Development Authority Ahad Cheema was arrested.

He said the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leaders were aware that many more names involved in corruption could surface and that was the reason they started staging protests. Imran Khan claimed that in the last four years his party achieved the kind of success that the previous governments during the last 20 years failed to achieve. He said the PTI would again come into power in the coming elections and remove the existing flaws in the system of government.

On the occasion, Chief Minister Pervaiz Khattak said that Maulana Samiul Haq’s name for the Senate election had been proposed and seconded by the Qaumi Watan Party (QWP) and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Sami (JUI-S) and they would cast votes for him.

Regarding amending the much-discussed Right to Information Act, he said the amendments were being introduced to make it effective. On the occasion, Shah Farman said the government had withdrawn the amendments to the RTI officially so as to remove the flaws and retain the importance of the law.