LAHORE - Former Law Minister Rana Sanaullah Khan has said that the Chief Minister would quit the office if the police investigations found him guilty of playing any role in the killing of Minhajul Quran workers in Model Town on June 17.
While talking to this scribe during visit to The Nation office here on Monday, the former Law Minister said that the allegations against the Chief Minister and himself based on the statement of DIG Rana Abdul Jabbar that they had asked him to terminate the Qadri family when they were neither present on the crime scene nor they said so.
He said this statement cannot form basis for the resignation of the CM ,however, he added, if concrete evidence is produced during the course of evidence then the CM may quit.
He also denied any delay in the registration of the FIR on the incident and said, an SHO had registered it the same day and was assigned to the Joint Investigating Team (JIT) for investigations. As to the incorporation of terrorism charges in the FIR got registered on the complaint of PAT, he said, the insertion of ATA Section did not add gravity to the offence after Section 302 of PPC was also there.
When asked about his resignation after the June 17 killings, he said it came after the fact that he had to appear before the Judicial Commission inquiring into the incident.
He said his resignation was the party decision and he esteems his party commitment more than any office.
When asked about the protesting PTI and PAT in the Red Zone, he said after activists of these parties had stormed the PTV building and smashed main gate of the Prime Minister’s House, they have entered a dead end of the politics.
He said after disclosures made by Javed Hashmi in a Press conference the protest show of both parties has lost credibility and importance. He said that Hashmi is an honest person and his allegations carry weight.
When asked whether Imran Khan and Dr Tahirul Qadri can be apprehended after terrorism cases have been registered against them, he said it was not simply terrorism but Section 124(A)of PPC has been invoked which means they had acted against the State and ,added, law would take its course against them and they can be taken into custody.
When asked if the government is comfortable in the given situation, he said though it was not comfortable but it was determined and committed with democracy and the supremacy of the Constitution.
He said that the government is committed to resist tooth and nail any attempt to get the demands accepted by force. He said that the government will accept only what is Constitutional and legal.
To a question on the allegations levelled by Imran Khan on Nawaz Sharif about favouring his daughter to the post of Chairperson Youth Loan Scheme against the tall claims of merit and transparency, Rana Sanaullah said that Maryam Nawaz was an honest lady and not a single penny has been misappropriated since she was appointed head of the Board of the scheme.
He said Maryam’s appointment has saved the national kitty of hefty salary which ,otherwise, a Chairperson had to receive. He said her appointment was for sake of her working in close proximity and under the guidance of her father Nawaz Sharif.