PAKISTAN

Imran Khan says NSC meeting confirmed he wasn’t lying

PTI chief demands, open SC hearing, CEC resignation

SAMAA | Samaa Web Desk - Posted: Apr 23, 2022 

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chief Imran Khan has demanded an “open hearing” in the Supreme Court of Pakistan on the “threat” he was allegedly issued by the United States, claiming that the National Security Committee statement issued on Friday had confirmed the ‘conspiracy’ against him.

Addressing a press conference at his Bani Gala residence in Islamabad on Saturday, the PTI chief also demanded resignation of the Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja.

His demand came as the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) poised to give a ruling in the foreign funding case involving PTI.

Imran Khan also announced that he had told his workers to prepare for a march on Islamabad.

The NSC on Friday dismissed Khan’s claims about a ‘foreign conspiracy’ to topple his government.

However, at the press conference Imran Khan said that the NSC statement had confirmed what he was saying and it proved he was not lying. The meeting has confirmed that the communique was a fact, he said.

Imran Khan said he wanted the Supreme Court to take up the issue of communique, which, he said, the court should have taken up when the National Assembly deputy speaker disallowed the no-confidence motion against Khan.

He said he wanted an open hearing in the Supreme Court because if the court fails to investigate the issue no prime minister in Pakistan will be able to resist foreign pressure.

Imran Khan claimed that Pervez Musharraf’s decision to side with the US in its ‘war on terror’ was also an example of foreign pressure.

Khan said the former US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had brought the PML-N and PPP closer when she was in office (2005-2009) and this too was foreign intervention.

“The second thing I want that when the Supreme Court investigates,” it would be revealed who was visiting foreign diplomatic missions Pakistan, he said.

Imran Khan said journalists had started to report beforehand on his government’s end.

“If our institutions does not stand with our nation’s self-respect” it would amount to putting our children’s future at risk, he said.

The PTI chief said that the Supreme Court and the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) were not showing any “urgency” over the issues, including the interpretation of Article 63-A.

Imran Khan then demanded that the chief election commissioner must step down because for an umpire to be neutral both parties must accept it.

The PTI chief revealed that he had already instructed his party’s district level organisations to organise a march on Islamabad for which he would give a date later.

When asked the word ‘conspiracy’ was not in either of the NSC statement, Khan said that it was wrong to claim that the communication was not an unusual development.

Any one saying this is a “liar” because such language is not used in diplomatic communications, he said.

Imran Khan said that the “threat” issued to him was conspiracy and it was rare because in the past only Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Musharraf had received such threats.

When asked about the new government reversing his government’s decision, Imran Khan, instead of answering the question, said that the conspiracy had been proven and now Shehbaz Sharif must apologise to him.

The PTI has been accusing the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) of partiality as the body hears the funding case and has been instructed by the Islamabad High Court (IHC) to hand down a ruling within 30 days.

The PTI has filed a petition before the IHC challenging the order. It has also urged that ECP be directed to probe accounts of all the political parties in Pakistan and conclude the proceedings within 30 days.

The PTI has been accused of receiving funding from illegal foreign sources in a case that was filed in 2014 by PTI’s founding member Akbar S. Babar.

The party has stalled a ruling for seven years through petitions before courts.

On April 14, when the IHC ordered the ECP to give a ruling in 30 days, it also dismissed a PTI petition to remove Babar from the case.