Daily Times

Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb Wednesday asked the PTI Chairman and former prime minister Imran Khan to the people how he managed to ‘convert Banigala into money gala’.

Speaking at a press conference in Islamabad, Marriyum alleged that Imran did not curb corruption and his aides’ assets increased while the PTI chairman was in power. She claimed that Bushra Bibi and her friend Farah Khan conducted business transactions in Banigala.

She further said although Khan maintained that Bushra was a housewife, it was on her instructions that the diplomatic cypher was touted as a “threat letter”. “Bushra Bibi runs orders to run trends against institutions; it was on her instructions that the [cable] was used as a threat letter,” the information minister said, asking Khan to “have some shame” for calling her a housewife. The information minister alleged that Bushra Bibi asks PTI’s social media team to run trends for diverting attention away from Farah’s corruption cases – a reference to the recent audio leak of a conversation between Khan’s wife and PTI leader Dr Arsalan Khalid.

Marriyum said it had always PML-N’s stance that such audios and videos should not be released, says a news report. “[Now PTI is protesting against it] but when the audios of someone else come out, they rejoice,” she said. The information minister added that Khan’s attention was just on Bushra Bibi and Farah’s business transactions and that he did not care about the country’s situation.

“Imran Khan is responsible for load-shedding and inflation,” she said, adding that he was crying aloud only at the investigation stage – and “no fake case” had been lodged against him. She reminded Khan that he promised the people five million homes and 10 million jobs before coming into power, but he did not fulfill any of those vows.

She berated Khan for not serving Pakistan and focusing on registering cases against his political opponents. The information minister said the government was reviewing the import ban list and a decision on it will be made in due course.

“The ban on import of non-essential and luxury items is being reviewed. Some things will be added and some items have to be taken out from the list. It will be officially announced,” she said. The government had imposed a ban on the import of non-essential items to save the forex reserves as part of its emergency plan to stabilize the economy. She said Imran’s desperation for remaining into the power also wreaked havoc on the lives of the masses who were misled by building a false narrative on the so-called regime change foreign conspiracy. She said Imran Khan, who claimed himself “Sadiq and Ameen” (honest and righteous), made billions by doing “business of diamonds” and selling gifts from the Toshakhana.

Marriyum said Imran Khan had nothing to do with the country’s foreign policy, economy, power generation and creation of employment opportunities. In his four years rule, he robbed the masses and did corruption in every sector of the country, she added. She maintained that Imran Khan was squarely responsible for severe load shedding and extreme inflation in the country.

He (Imran) had to explain why he did not sign LNG contracts when its price was at the lowest in the international market, she added. Marriyum said former Imran Khan was no more a mentally stable person and needed treatment urgently. “This is the same person who used to say that he knew about the rise in the value of the dollar on TV and also he did not come to power to control the prices of potatoes, onions and tomatoes,” she added. She said according to Imran Khan, his government received a cipher on March 8, but he remained silent over the matter and waited for the outcome of the no-confidence motion. However, he started linking the cipher with the foreign conspiracy from March 28, when he realized that the no-trust motion against him was destined to succeed.

Imran Khan became the prime minister by stealing the mandate of the people after the failure of RTS (Results Transmission System) on the election-day in 2018. She opined that Imran did nothing but lied and tried to mislead the people while in power. She asked Imran to tell the people how conspiracy was orchestrated to arrest Rana Sanaullah in two kilo heroin fake case and how did he try to make a narrative of conspiracy by calling journalist David Rose in the PM House. She said Imran should also tell the people that his government reached out to the National Crime Agency against Shehbaz Sharif and could not present any evidence in the courts which declared that corruption, money laundering, kickbacks and any misuse power were found. She asked Imran to tell the people how the Asset Recovery Unit headed by Shahzad Akbar became an Asset Making Unit and how the NAB was used to harass businessmen, and the FIA was used for political victimization of opponents.