Daily Times

Federal Minister for Defence Khawaja Muhammad Asif has said that Imran Khan levelled baseless and false allegations against former president Asif Ali Zardari that he wanted to get him killed.

Addressing a press conference at his residence in Sialkot on Sunday, he said that there was fear of bloodshed in politics due to baseless accusations of Imran Khan against Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Co-chairman Asif Zardari. He said if anything bad happens, Imran Khan would be responsible for it.

Kh Asif said PPP was the party which offered countless sacrifices in the war against terrorism, and even Banazir Bhutto was martyred while fighting the war on terror. He said the history was witness to the fact that Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leaders had given their blood for peace and democracy in the country, weather it was the execution of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto or the martyrdom of Benazir Bhutto. He said despite execution and killings, the PPP did not resort to violence in the past.

“Today, the party has its government in one province, it is any ally in the federal government, and a major component of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM),” the federal minister said. He said that by accusing Asif Zardari, Imran Khan had taken another stance, which might cause chaos in the country.

Kh Asif said Imran Khan’s statement might be life-threatening for the PPP leadership. He said Imran Khan was responsible for country’s economic disaster, adding that all the cards Imran Khan had played in politics had failed.

He said that Imran Khan used to blame the USA for bringing down his government, but now he was accusing caretaker chief minister Mohsin Naqvi of it. Kh Asif said there was a clear contradiction in Imran Khan’s words and actions.

The minister said Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) had resigned from the assembly and Imran Khan said that he did not want to sit with thieves and dacoits. After that, sometimes he said to withdraw resignations from assembly and sometimes he said that he will not sit in assembly.

He said that when the PTI’s resignations started being accepted, Imran Khan said “we are coming back to the assembly”. He said: “I am against political victimisation, but everyone knows that during the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) regime, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leadership including he himself and the PPP leaders were in jail. He said during the four-year rule of PTI, false cases were registered against the PMLN leaders.

Kh Asif said that no one targeted the PTI for political reasons. They are threatening the courts, abusing institutions and abusing the army chief and if they would threaten the national institutions, the law would take its own course. He said Imran Khan was leading the country towards bloodshed and chaos.

Kh Asif said the PTI had an assembly platform which they rejected and now they were asking the institutions to facilitate negotiations. They should do politics on their own and stop calling the institutions, because no one would listen to them now.

In response to a question, he said the entire PDM leadership, including Nawaz Sharif and Asif Ali Zardari, were arrested in false cases, but Imran Khan was facing genuine cases. “Therefore, in my opinion, legal action must be taken against those who looted the country’s wealth,” he added.