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ISLAMABAD: The ongoing war of words between the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) took another turn on Wednesday when ruling party lawmakers accused state institutions and courts of being “soft” on Imran Khan.
But the PTI, which has been battling foreign funding allegations in the Supreme Court, went on the offensive and accused the PML-N of obtaining funds from terror groups and individuals such as Osama bin Laden.
“We have been requesting institutions such as the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to take action against Imran Khan for money laundering, tax evasion and filing forged asset details. But these institutions seem to be helpless in this regard,” MNA Daniyal Aziz told a press conference at the Press Information Department (PID).
Accompanied by Minister for Capital Administration and Development Division (CADD) Tariq Fazal Chaudhry, Mr Aziz said: “It even takes a long time to constitute a bench in the Islamabad High Court (IHC) for a case against Imran Khan. I have filed a petition with the Supreme Court to take action against Mr Khan, who is a proclaimed offender, but nothing is being done against him,” he said.
PTI says will soon unveil documents proving PML-N, JUI-F are foreign-funded
Mr Aziz, who has been advocating Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s stance in the Panama Papers case since the revelations surfaced in April 2016, said that although the prime minister’s name was not mentioned in the leaks, the Sharif family had presented a money trail stretching back three generations.
“On the other hand, Imran Khan is trying to dodge the institutions and courts to avoid divulging how he purchased millions of rupees worth of property in Banigala,” he added.
He said it was the responsibility of state institutions and courts to get their orders implemented, as was being done in the case of the Sharif family.
“We are following the orders of the Supreme Court and the joint investigation team (JIT), but Imran Khan did not submit his reply before another JIT, formed in 2014, when a case was registered against him under provisions of the Anti-Terrorism Act for attacking and illegally occupying state institutions such as PTV during the 2014 sit-in,” Mr Aziz said.
During the press conference, a reporter asked Mr Aziz to apologise for calling journalists “Imran Khan’s in-laws” at a recently held press talk outside the ECP.
Mr Aziz tried to clarify that he meant to say that even the media had gone soft on Mr Khan, since his non-cooperation with the JIT had not been highlighted so far. He also apologised for his earlier remarks.
But he had no satisfactory answer when asked why his own party’s government could not ensure the implementation of NAB, FBR and ECP decisions. The PML-N leader said simply that Mr Khan had presented a faulty money trail.
Foreign funding for PML-N?
PTI spokesperson Fawad Chaudhry hit back at the allegations levelled by the ruling party against Mr Khan, saying: “We have clarified our position earlier and it’s public knowledge now that Imran Khan owned one flat in London that was bought through Niazi Services and there was no other holding of this offshore company”.
He said Mr Khan had given the details of how the flat was purchased and sold, but there were ambiguities around the conduct of PM Sharif and his family.
“It is irresponsible to declare our supporters ‘disloyal Pakistanis’ because they give donations to the PTI. What about this PML-N (UK), which is registered there to get donations from that country?” he asked.
He announced he would soon produce documents to prove how both the PML-N and JUI-F had been receiving funds from foreign governments.
“The only reason that people donate to Imran Khan is because he has established three cancer hospitals and a university,” he said. “But the only hospital established by the Sharifs in Lahore is operating as a commercial entity — not a philanthropic unit.”
Mr Chaudhary said that the objections raised over the SECP and the State Bank members in the JIT were tantamount to contempt of court, referring to similar objections raised by former prime minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf and a former NAB chairman; in both cases the applications were turned down.
Published in Dawn, May 25th, 2017
