Daily Times

Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Prof. Ahsan Iqbal said on Sunday that the PTI wanted to sabotage the journey of national development once again.

Addressing a press conference here at Model Town, he said that only courts were empowered to release the PTI founder, and “we will never let Pakistan to be damaged for the ego of a single person”. He said the PTI founder could not be released through an executive order, and he should prove his innocence in the court. He said the PTI founder was in jail not to fulfill legal requirements but on the charges of theft, fraud and sedition.

During the PTI regime, he said, the PML-N leaders got justice from the courts and did not appeal to the government for their release from jails.

Ahsan Iqbal said that there was irrefutable evidence against the PTI founder in the cases of Tosha Khana and Al-Qadir Trust, and his legal team was using delaying tactics in his cases. Bushra Bibi is not appearing in the court despite taking bail, as she fears that she would not be able to avoid punishment by participating in the court process, he added.

The federal minister said that Pakistan was moving on the way to development, and the stock market was showing bullish trends. He said maintaining law and order was a responsibility of the government. Necessary measures were inevitable to thwart ambitions of the “anarchist” group, he said and offered apology for the inconvenience caused to citizens due to road closures.

The PTI acted like a terrorist organisation on May 9, and no good could be expected from it now, the minister said adding that those who invited external powers to intervene in Pakistan could not be well-wishers of the country. Ahsan said those calling for protests and sit-ins again and again had been rejected by people, as their real faces had been exposed now. He said the PTI wanted to spread chaos in the country through sit-ins, and people would not fall for their deception anymore, and thwart its designs.

Ahsan Iqbal said KP Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur was fully focused on the federation and Punjab, and he was not worried at all about the law and order situation in Kurram and Parachinar. He said bloodshed was going on in those areas, but the KP government resources were being used for the PTI protests and sit-ins.

He said that the PTI founder had been portrayed on social media as a big leader, and that he was fighting for the constitution and law. However, he asserted that he was the same ‘Mahatma’ who reached the power corridors by halting the RTS system in 2018 elections. He is the same person, who received 190 million pounds the public money from the British government, and instead of depositing it in the national kitty, he had used it for his personal gain, for Al-Qadir Trust.

The PTI always obstructed the country’s development process as they could not digest it, he said and added that Pakistan’s friendly countries were offended during the PTI tenure in government. The first attack was made on Pakistan-China friendship by levelling allegations against the CPEC project; the second attack was made when his government was coming to an end and they tried to harm Pakistan-US relations by accusing America of conspiracy; while the third attack was made through Bushra Bibi’s recent false statement regarding Saudi Arabia in a bid to create rift in Pakistan-Saudi Arabia relations.

The minister said Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif would present a five-year economic vision to the nation on Nov 28. He said that instead of formulating laws in the assemblies, the PTI members were doing politics of anarchy, besides taking full perks and privileges as parliamentarians. In response to another question, he said that the government was aware of the difficulties of people due to closure of roads, “for which we are sorry. But these measures are for the security of the state”.