PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has said if the Punjab government can’t ensure the security of incarcerated former prime minister Imran Khan, he should be handed over to it.

“If there are threats to the life of former prime minister Imran Khan and the Punjab government cannot ensure his security, then he should be given to us. We will keep him,” spokesman for the provincial government Barrister Mohammad Ali Saif said in a video message here.

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Mr Saif said Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz suffered from “Imran phobia,” so she had banned visits to all jails in the province.

He said the ban had not only deprived prisoners of the right to meet their family members but it was also wasting the food sent in by their families.

Insists Maryam suffering from ‘Imran phobia’

The spokesman said instead of using “Imran phobia” to cause troubles for prisoners and their families, the Punjab government should put the PTI founder in the custody of the KP government.

He said no incident of terrorism was recently reported in Punjab, but authorities were making a hue and cry over security threats and terrorism.

“The Punjab chief minister is doing all this to stop visitors from meeting Imran Khan in jail. All this is just hogwash to conceal the Punjab government’s incompetence,” he said.

In a separate statement about the issuance of arrest warrants by a Rawalpindi court for KP Chief Minister Ali Amin Khan Gandapur, Mr Saif said all cases against PTI leaders were “fake” and carried no legal status.

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He said Mr Gandapur was the elected chief minister of the province, and millions of residents voted for him.

The spokesman claimed that the PML-N leaders had parked billions of rupees in foreign bank accounts, and no one questioned them for it.

He said the people involved in corruption worth trillions of rupees got off scot-free, but arrest warrants were issued for KP’s chief minister.

Published in Dawn, March 20th, 2024