Minister for Information and Broadcasting Marriyum Aurangzeb on Friday said Imran Khan might hire services of any international agency, including the Scotland Yard for investigating the firing incident in Wazirabad, but he had to become a part of the investigation and must bring evidence to prove the allegations he hurled at Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah.
Addressing a news conference, the minister refuted the allegations leveled by Imran Khan on the prime minister, Rana Sanaullah, and others about their involvement in the firing incident that occurred near Wazirabad the other day.
“How Imran Khan, who has a government in Punjab where this incident took place, can demand the resignation of these three persons prior to any investigation into the matter,” she wondered, adding the provincial government was responsible for the attack which did not take prerequisite measures despite the threat alerts.
Read more: ‘Coward’ Imran Khan only hurls hollow threats, says Marriyum
Marriyum asked Imran Khan to abstain from hurling allegations without any proof, and let the police lodge first information report (FIR) into the case.
The minister alleged that Imran Khan was pressurizing the police to ensure the registration of an FIR as per his will. His party workers had attacked the police station in Gujrat where the accused had been kept and recorded three statements so far.
She said Imran Khan was not letting the police register an FIR of the case as he knew that he was lying altogether. He even went to Shaukat Khanum for an operation and so far had not visited any government hospital for obtaining the medico-legal report which was a legal requirement in a criminal case.
“We are calling for a fair investigation but Imran Khan is avoiding a thorough probe into the matter,” she said, adding there was the best forensic laboratory in Punjab set up by Shehbaz Sharif during his time as the provincial chief minister.
She categorically stated that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah had nothing to do with the attack on Imran Khan.
Marriyum said the chief minister of Punjab had to answer to the public as people were looking towards him.
She asked as to why Imran Khan ignored the threat alerts and what were the reasons behind the slackness of the Punjab government which did not take any precautionary measures despite prior warnings.
The minister asked Imran Khan why he did not call off the long march on receiving threat alerts which could have saved innocent lives.
Imran Khan had received quality medical treatment in the Shaukat Khanum Hospital, but what about those people who sustained injuries and got killed during the incident, she regretted.
She said though the prime minister had announced the compensation for the injured, but it was very unfortunate that Imran Khan did not bother to mention the name of any injured person in his address to the party workers.
Read more: No talks with organisers of “bloody” march: Marriyum Aurangzeb
The minister urged the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf to refrain from using the religious card over the incident as the country had already incurred massive losses and spilled enough blood due to such type of politics.
“We need to sit together and chalk out a strategy to curb extremism and growing intolerance,” she added.
She regretted that one of the PTI leaders was inciting people to revenge which showed that the party wanted bloodshed in the country.
Marriyum said the reports were received about violent protests at Faizabad where glasses of the hotels were broken, people were beaten and tires were burnt.
She said Imran Khan was bent on creating chaos and anarchy in the country. He had already created chaos in the country and upped the ante gradually by lying and misleading the people.
The minister reminded Imran Khan that the people could not be fooled all the time as they were not sheep and lambs.
She said Imran Khan wanted the protest to be continued as it was his desire that the country faced problems in the FATF.
Imran should accept that he was removed in a constitutional way and replaced by an elected government that had been working for the country’s betterment, she maintained.
“We have condemned the attack on Imran Khan, and condemnation poured in from across the country,” she said, adding the political arena should not be turned into the bloody one.
Marriyum said if Imran Khan really wanted the election, he would have dissolved the National Assembly on March 7 when he received the cipher as per his own statement. He worked out the foreign conspiracy and cipher narratives after he realized that his ouster from power was imminent.
She said he made an offer to the army chief for a lifetime extension, and then repeatedly besieged the institutions to save his government, but in vain. He started attacking the state institutions when the army chief refused to take any unconstitutional step, she added.
She asked why this ‘regime change conspiracy’ and cipher was not disclosed on March 7.
The minister said the leaked audios reaffirmed the government’s stance that Imran Khan had weaved the false narrative of foreign conspiracy even before his ouster. However, the leaked audios buried his false narratives once and for all.
She said he wanted to protect himself from the consequences of the corruption, foreign funding, loot, and plunder that he committed through his frontperson, Farah Gogi.
Marriyum said Imran Khan had sold gifts from Toshakhana by revising its policy. The entire record of Toshakhana was with the government which would soon bring to the fore another corruption scandal of him.
She said Imran Khan had to answer about selling a “diamond set” worth $ 5 million from Toshakhana through his frontperson, Farah Gogi in a foreign country.
The minister asked Imran Khan not to lecture the government on freedom of press as he was a certified “predator” for journalism and had a track record of muzzling media, off airing anchorpersons, and breaking the ribs of reporters.