Imran Khan confirms writing letter to IMF

ISLAMABAD  -  Pakistan Tehreek-e-In­saf (PTI) founder Imran Khan confirmed on Fri­day that he had sent a letter to the Internation­al Monetary Fund (IMF), demanding an audit of the election results be­fore approving any new loan for Islamabad.

“The letter has been written to the IMF and will be dispatched today. If the country gets a loan in such a situation, then who will return it?” Khan told the media during a hearing of the £190 million reference at Adiala Jail.

The former prime minister warned that the loan would lead to more poverty, adding that till there is invest­ment in the country loans of the country will keep on increasing.

Khan’s update about the letter comes a day after PTI senator Ali Za­far announced that the party founder had decided to write a letter to the global lender urging it to call for an audit of the Feb­ruary 8 election before it contin­ues talks with Islamabad for a new loan programme.

However, it remains to be seen if the PTI founder’s letter would lead to the desired re­sult he seeks as the IMF today expressed willingness to work with the new Pakistani gov­ernment while ignoring his de­mand. Meanwhile, former fi­nance minister Ishaq Dar said the letter holds no significance, adding that if the PTI founder has written against the coun­try’s national interest then it is condemnable.

“Writing anything for person­al gain is shameful. PTI found­er’s letter will have no signifi­cance,” Dar, a senior leader of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), told media outside the Punjab Assembly.

“First political stability should be brought to Pakistan,” said Khan. He added that institutions were destroyed for Nawaz Shar­if’s “selection”.

“Institutions, NAB every­thing was destroyed to select Nawaz Sharif. I was made zero for Nawaz Sharif then rigging was done in elections,” the PTI founder also said. Talking about former Rawalpindi commission­er Liaqat Ali Chatha’s rigging al­legations and their withdrawal, he claimed: “Commissioner was picked up and assaulted, now his software has been updated.”

The PTI founder was talking about the dramatic develop­ment that emerged last Satur­day when former Rawalpindi commissioner Chatha tendered his resignation, which he said was out of “guilty conscience” for abetting large-scale electoral rigging in the garrison city, fur­ther raising the political mercu­ry in the country.

The commissioner, in the rare press conference, took respon­sibility for the “rigging” that he claimed took place in Rawalpin­di Division. “We converted the losers into winners with 50,000 votes margin,” he stated.

In response to his allegations, the PTI, Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), and other political parties — most of whom had already rejected the election results — demanded an investigation into the matter.

But, the matter took a fresh turn when Chatta on Thursday withdrew all his allegations related to rigging in the elec­tions, saying he was “extreme­ly ashamed, embarrassed”, and claimed that he made the move in coordination with a PTI lead­er. “I take full responsibility for my actions and surrender my­self before the authorities for any kind of legal action,” Cha­tha said in a statement to the Election Commission of Paki­stan (ECP).