ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan on Monday levelled corruption allegations against deposed prime minister Nawaz Sharif and Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
Speaking to the media outside an anti-terrorism court (ATC), where he appeared for hearing of violence cases related to the 2014 sit-ins, Imran said that the Sharif brothers had been caught in corruption cases.
“Nawaz was caught in Panama, and the younger brother had been caught by China’s regulatory authorities,” he said.
The PTI chairman said that Faisal Subhan, the chief executive officer of the Capital Engineering, which was awarded the contract for Multan Metro Bus project, had confessed to the Chinese regulatory authority investigating corruption charges in the project that Shehbaz and his family received hefty kickbacks in their overseas accounts.
“Shehbaz Sharif has spent Rs 9 trillion through his chosen bureaucrats like Ahad Cheema,” he said. “The real issue of Pakistan is that will this mafia continue to loot the public’s money that should be spent on clean drinking water projects, health, and education?”
Earlier in the day, Imran was granted an exemption from appearing in the next hearing of violence cases related to 2014 sit-ins. A notice for a permanent exemption from appearing before the court in the cases was issued to the prosecution.
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the Punjab government, Malik Ahmed Khan, reacted to Imran’s statement, stating that the Chinese company involved in the Multan Metro Bus project had already asked for pardon.
“Niazi Sahib cannot deny the facts,” he said. “He has not performed in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The upcoming election in 2018 will prove to be a test for Imran.”
State Minister for Information and Broadcasting also did not shied away from lashing out at the PTI chief, saying: “Imran was a fugitive from the ATC, yet he was granted an exemption from appearance in the next hearing.
“He [Imran] submitted a plea of exemption for the first time and the request was granted to a person who did not show up at court hearings.”
In an apparent reference to deposed prime minister Nawaz Sharif, the minister said that those who appear before court are not allowed to meet their ailing mother and wife.
“Verdicts like these definitely raise questions,” she said.
Separately, in a meeting with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Pervez Khattak, the cricket-turned-politician said that the PTI-led Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government had undertaken admirable measures to reform and mainstream religious seminaries.
He said that more than 2.5 million children were studying in religious seminaries and it was the need of hour to give those children a proper place and position in the education system.
Published in Daily Times, February 27th 2018.
