20 PTI MPAs turned out to be saleable: Imran

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan said Wednesday that his party has identified 20 legislators who sold their votes in the recent Senate election.

He said show-cause notices have been issued to all these MPAs and their cases will be sent to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) if they failed to prove their innocence.

“We have very serious reservations that this government is complicit. Instead of going against those who looted nation’s money and laundered it, it is complicit in protecting the money-launderers,” Imran asserted during a news conference here. He was flanked by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Pervaiz Khattak, Shah Mehmood Qureshi and other party leaders.

He PTI chief said the party would give the accused a chance to explain their position. He added that the committee, which probed the matter, would explain to the NAB why it named certain lawmakers for selling their votes.

He dared other political parties to also demonstrate courage and take action against their lawmakers who were found involved in horse-trading and the PTI had their names also, which could be made public if these parties failed to move against them.

The names of those allegedly involved in horse-trading were also share with the media. They include: PTI’s Nargis Ali, Deena Naaz, Sardar Idrees, Obaid Mayar, Zahid Durrani, Fouzia Bibi, Naseem Hayat, Qurban Khan, Arif Yousaf, Amjid Afridi, Abdul Haq, Javed Naseem, Yasin Khalil, Faisal Zaman, Sami Alizayi.

The list also included Meraj Hamayun from the Qaumi Watan Party (QWP) of Aftab Sherpao, Khatoon Bibi and Babar Saleem from the Awami Jamhoori Ittehad and Wajihuz Zaman from the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), who had joined the PTI.

"This is not the first time the lawmakers have taken part in horse-trading. This has been happening for the past 30 or 40 years. The accused lawmakers had received as much as Rs40 million each and the party will issue a show-cause notice to them,” he said.

Replying to questions, Imran asserted that in no way Nawaz Sharif should be allowed to go abroad, as the case against him was very serious and the entire nation was focused on it for the last about two years.

“If they will go abroad and will not be here, then the judgement could not be announced. Hence, this entire time of the nation would be wasted,” he noted.

Imran contended that if Begum Kalsoom Nawaz was ill, they could go to London and return, as it was just eight-hour flight. About the national seminar a day earlier here, Imran alleged that all those, who feared to be caught if Nawaz was punished, were trying to hide behind vote and democracy to save their skin. “I don’t want to disclose anything here. Those, sitting with him in the seminar know that after Nawaz, it would be their turn. The only abode for him is Adiyala Jail,” he claimed.

The PTI chairman said that democracy meant being answerable while this was not possible in case of a monarch. “In democracy, this is impossible that you don’t share LNG and Orange train contract, calling these confidential. You have to be answerable but to avoid this, you mount attacks on the judiciary and other institutions,” he lamented.

Imran said they wanted to destroy the judiciary, meaning thereby, destroying the country just to hide their corruption. “This all is a corruption union,” he maintained.

About the PTI’s April 29 public meeting at Minar-e-Pakistan, he said that he believed the event would be the largest in Pakistan’s history, as people were happy over the accountability of the corrupt, for it was for the first time that the powerful had been made answerable by the Supreme Court as they were seeing change.

Imran ruled out the possibility of tickets to be awarded on the basis of money and said that this time tickets would be awarded only after he would be convinced during the parliamentary board meetings. A criterion, he noted, had already been thrashed out and he would personally see that those fulfilling it would be considered for award of tickets unlike before the 2013 elections, when he could not spare enough time and many people received cash for giving away tickets.

Imran promised to develop WhatsApp contact for receiving information about use of money in award of tickets. He made it clear that the party would field its own candidates and not leave field open for others. However, he said, there could be exception in one or two cases.

Earlier, in chat with media, Pervaiz Khattak said that he did not know why a case was registered against him, as he was asleep when the PTV building was attacked.

“We rose against the Election Commission for rigging and cases were registered against us on political basis,” he said.

Mushtaq Yusufzai adds from Peshawar: Most of the PTI legislators, who were accused of selling their votes during the Senate election, rejected the allegations and vowed to replace the chief minister.

They have started consultation to submit a joint requisition in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly to replace the chief minister in last month of his government.

The MPAs said they had already been expelled from the PTI so there was no sense in issuing show-cause notices to them.

"We are no longer PTI legislators and are not supposed to respond to the show-cause notices," a legislator remarked.

They claimed that Imran Khan was now trying to befool the people of Punjab in his bid to win the next elections on the basis of his so-called campaign against corruption.

Reacting to the show-cause notices, some of the MPAs said they would never respond to the charges levelled against them, saying since they were no longer part of the PTI, therefore, they were not supposed to explain their position.

MPA Javed Naseem said Imran Khan and his team should have felt shame by considering him a PTI legislator and expecting him to vote for the party candidate.

"Perhaps Imran and his men have a short memory. It was three years ago when they expelled me from the PTI and I joined the PML-Q. Can they tell me if I had ever attended any party meeting or received government funds," Javed Naseem argued.

He said it was the Election Commission that restored him as MPA.

Another former PTI MPA from Kohat Amjad Afridi also claimed that Imran Khan had no right to issue him a show-cause notice, saying he had been kicked out of the party one and a half years ago on allegations that he had not supported the PTI candidates in Kohat during the local government elections.

He shared copy of a notification with The News that was issued by the PTI leadership on November 8, 2015, in which a disciplinary committee, headed by Shah Mehmood Qureshi, recommended punitive action against some of the party legislators for their failure to support the party candidates.

Interestingly, the same committee had recommended disciplinary action against Senator Azam Swati but he was spared due to his strong connections with Jehangir Tareen and Pervaiz Khattak.

"They had ceased my development funds and gas royalty and expected me to vote for the PTI candidate in the Senate election," said the former PTI MPA, saying he would not respond to the show-cause notice.

Another PTI MPA from Peshawar Yasin Khalil said he was shocked when came to know about the allegations against him in the media.

"They tried to damage my career that I built in many years. I was sitting with them until yesterday but was never told about these allegations. I voted for PTI candidate Khayal Zaman Afridi. The MPAs who sold their votes were spared," said Yasin Khalil.

He claimed he was offered a huge amount by the PTI candidates but rejected these offers and followed party line.

MPA Qurban Khan, who belongs to Nowshera, the native district of Pervaiz Khattak, said he was victimised for highlighting corruption in many projects executed by the PTI-led government, including the much-publicised Billion Tree Tsunami project.

He said the MPAs, who used to expose corruption of Pervaiz Khattak, were targeted. "Pervaiz Khattak has hijacked the party. He has committed huge corruption. We had formed a forward bloc to replace him with a sincere and honest person but our plan fell apart," Qurban Ali explained. He claimed that Pervaiz Khattak had stopped his development funds.

Qurban Khan said Imran Khan belied his claims about establishing the robust Ehtesab Commission in KP when he announced to refer the MPAs’ cases to the NAB.

News Desk adds: Obaid Mayar denied selling his vote, saying that the PTI was trying to improve its popularity graph to grab power in Punjab. He said there is no proof against him. He said the ousted MPAs will approach the Supreme Court.

Nargis Ali told a private news channel that some MPAs have been made scapegoats to save others. She said she will clear her position in reply to the show-cause notice.

Sami Alizayi said he will personally visit Imran Khan and defend him. He said everyone knew well ahead of the Senate election who will sell the vote. He said he is a well off person and don’t need to sell his vote.

CM’s Adviser Arif Yousaf rubbished the horse-trading allegations against him, saying that his name was not included in the initial lists, but was included later under a conspiracy. He said he will stay in the PTI. He said Imran should have called the accused MPAs before naming them in the media.