Addressing a news conference, the minister cited that it was Imran Khan, who fled from Islamabad after giving a call to his party workers for gathering at the Federal Capital’s D-Chowk on May 25. The same thing happened last (Sunday) night when he left his Bani Gala residence where a few hundred of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) workers had gathered on his call, she added.
Marriyum said the PTI chief had pledged to create 10 million jobs and construct five million houses, with zero corruption in 90 days after coming into power, but he reneged on all his promises and “run away after indulging in massive corrupt practices”.
She said Imran tried to hide his party’s foreign funding for eight years and prevented the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to probe BRT (Peshawar), Malam Jabba, billion tree tsunami and other corruption scandals.
He kept on saying for eight years that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had no jurisdiction in the foreign funding case and now he refused to cooperate with the FIA in that regard, she added.
The minister recalled that Imran Khan had filed 11 petitions against the ECP in his effort to conceal his wrongdoings and escape from the law. His (Imran’s) claim of “ Sadiq and Ameen” had been buried now, she added.
Marriyum said that Imran Khan had always tried to change the debate from his wrongdoings through leveling baseless allegations. He in fact was addicted to staging farcical dramas, distorting facts and hyping narratives based on “lies”, she added.
She said Imran Khan laid economic landmines during the four years of his government and abandoned the International Monetary Fund programme, thus pushing the economy to the verge of bankruptcy.
“This is what happened to the country because the foreign agent of a foreign-aided party is imposed on it (as PM),” she said. The aim of former rulers was to make the country bankrupt but the present government was steering the economy in the right direction, she added.
The incumbent coalition government, the minister maintained, was making all-out efforts for solving all the problems, including inflation, destruction of the economy and other disasters, left behind by the Imran regime.
Their objective was to put the direction of the economy on the right track so that inflation should come down and jobless people get jobs, she added.
Marriyum said Imran Khan he tried to create mutiny, anarchy, chaos and political instability in the country when he realized that the economy was improving now. His only aim was to jeopardize economic stability and public confidence, she added.
The minister said when Imran was brought to power in 2018, the economy was in stable condition. He had no plan to fix the economy as he instead ruined it in his four years tenure.
She said Imran Khan had committed “a theft and was now caught red-handed. He had been proven to be a foreign agent”.
The minister said the PTI leadership only made a hue and cry for four years and did nothing except putting their political opponents in jails in fake cases, while using the state power to create a narrative based on false allegations. However, they could not provide any evidence in the courts to prove their narrative, she added.
She recalled Imran Khan refused to give an answer to the ECP regarding the foreign funding and hidden accounts.
The accountancy firm that had kept submitting Imran’s statements to the ECP, later informed the commission through a letter that it had nothing to do with the record (statements), which was based on the information that was given to it by the PTI leadership, she added.
The minister said the ECP also kept on asking the PTI to provide details of KASB Bank accounts, and the latter had sought some time but later claimed that its software had gone corrupt.
“During the four-year tenure of Imran Khan, KASB Bank did not provide any details to the Election Commission as their software continued to malfunction,” she added.
Marriyum said the ECP also asked the bank for the accounts details of four PTI employees and Akbar S Babar also kept on writing to the bank to provide him the details, but to no avail.
Citing bank’s details, she said the Central Finance Board of PTI’s National Campaign Office Muslim Town Lahore had allowed opening the accounts. The foreign funding worth over Rs 780 million came into that accounts, and that amount was withdrawn with the signatures of Central Finance Secretary, and shifted to the personal accounts of party leaders. The information in that regard had been gathered by the FIA, she added.
The minister said the address of PTI’s two offshore companies was 2-Zaman Park, Lahore. Imran Khan was asked several times about the two companies which had also been mentioned in the Pandora Papers.
She said the bank accounts were opened in the names of four persons namely Umar Farooq, Fariduddin Ahmed, Hamid Zaman and Azizullah as per the directives of PTI’s Central Finance Board and money from offshore companies came in those accounts. However, Imran Khan and his spokespersons used to claim that the party had nothing to do with the accounts.
The above accounts, she said, were hidden from the Election Commission for eight years, which had now come to the fore after the provision of data by the KASB Bank, which was handed over to the FIA for investigations.
An account of the PTI had been traced in the name of Arif Alvi, she claimed.
The minister said Imran Khan had threatened the judges and top police officers, and even did not spare a female judge.
She said the PTI chairman was in the habit of instigating the people through his hate speech and then escaping from the scene. The political leaders always stood by their workers but Imran Khan on the contrary ran away (from the field) after inciting his followers.
Replying to the questions of media-persons, the minister said Imran Khan’s attitude towards his own colleagues was regrettable as he even levelled a “baseless allegation of sexual harassment” of Shahbaz Gill. Gill’s medical report submitted in the court had no mention in that regard of signs of any torture, she added.
Marriyum said many parts of the country were affected by heavy floods, but Imran Khan had never visited any such area despite the fact that he had been flying on a helicopter every now and then.
On the contrary, she said, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif was day and night striving to provide relief to the calamity-hit people. At the time of Covid-19 outbreak, Shehbaz, who was the opposition leader and was abroad for medical treatment, returned home to be with the people at the time of trial.
She said the incumbent government did not believe in victimization of its political opponents, but law would take its own course. The provision of relief to the masses was its top most priority and all possible stops were being taken to protect the people from the impacts of inflation, she added.
Earlier, the minister appreciated the media for creating awareness about flood recovery activities and added that it gave better awareness through a public service message.
She said the media also informed the public about the programme regarding the distribution of Rs 25,000 per household affected by the floods.
On the prime minister’s instructions, she said, immediate relief in the form of cash was being given to the flood victims, so that they could buy necessary items, especially in those areas where the National Disaster Management Authority could not provide food and medicines.
She said Rs 1 million each was being provided to the heirs of those who died in the flood and the process had started since last month.
Under the Prime Minister Relief Fund, Rs 5 billion had been allocated for flood victims as the PM had directed that funds be given to the NDMA for immediate relief activities, she added.
She said emergency relief and rescue activities were continuing as the NDMA and Provincial Disaster Management Authorities were working together.
She said a joint survey, in collaboration of the NDMA and provincial authorities, had begun to assess the damage caused to houses as well as the number of deaths in the flood related incidents. The work had also started for the compensation of the affected households.
It was the responsibility of the entire nation to contribute to the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund as no government alone could fight such a big disaster, she opined.