ISLAMABAD - Federal Minister for Privatization, Daniyal Aziz Thursday criticised Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan for resorting to delaying tactics to prolong court cases against him and his party, saying that the 'Insaf party' itself was creating hurdles in the way of justice.
Addressing a press conference here, the federal minister said there perhaps was no court where a case was not registered against him or his party, however he was using delaying tactics to prolong cases to make his way forward for upcoming elections 2018.
The minister said Imran Khan feared that if cases against him were decided by the courts, allegations were proved which could drag him into trouble before upcoming elections, so delaying tactics might work to avert this threat.
Daniyal said that in the foreign funding case, Imran Khan had again sought time from Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).
"On one side, he added, PTI had been challenging mandate of ECP in High Court, while on other side, it had been taking time from ECP to get the Foreign Funding Case delayed, which shows double standard and disrespect to the courts," Daniyal said.
The minister said that if Imran Khan was fair and clear, he should appear before the court of justice, adding that since he knows something was wrong, so Imran was using delaying tactics as the best strategy.
Daniyal said that PTI leadership knew that noose was tightening around the party, so they were using delaying tactics to make way for contesting next elections by delaying cases.
Daniyal, while referring to a tweet of Imran Khan said that he himself admitted that he would be disqualified, hence he had been making efforts to delay foreign Funding case. He said that initially, Imran Khan even did not appear before Election Commission of Pakistan, however later he not only appeared in person but also tendered apology silently.
The minister said that avoiding hearings earlier and then appearing before the commission was enough to prove that he had not been paying respect to justice system. He said that Khan was not appearing before the courts in many cases, citing an example of a case related to Najam Sethi wherein he was even served a notice.
He said that Imran Khan by his deeds was showing way to other people on how to deal with courts instead of bowing before them in their respect.
He also cited another case of Shahbaz Sharif, wherein Imran Khan was running away from courts and was not giving answer to the questions the Punjab Chief Minister had raised.
The minister also questioned that at one side Pakistan Muslim League (N) was being given schedule to follow the case-timelines while on other side, there was not any strict timeline for PTI cases. He urged that level playing field should be applied and every case should be treated equally.
Daniyal also screened an interview of Imran Khan to a private news channel before the media wherein he admitted to have gambled for collecting funds for party. In another interview shown to the media, Imran Khan also admitted that PTI received $2 million illegal money from Dubai.
He said that Khan has also given wrong statements before the Supreme Court of Pakistan. Daniyal said that the person who had always been talking to strengthen democracy did not even appear in the parliament in the whole budget session while outside the parliament, he was criticizing that democratic institutions were not working.