‘Take money from opposition but don’t abandon PM,’ Rashid tells dissidents

ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid on Sunday alleged that the entire opposition “laid flat at 90 degrees on one phone call from the responsible quarters” and advised the disgruntled lawmakers of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) to “take opposition’s money but stand with Imran Khan.”

He warned that the “screams of those who want to disrupt the OIC moot would go to the skies.”

Addressing a presser, Sheikh said, “The political front is heated up but this entire politics is going on, on the television channels.”

“The real politics would start from March 27, when Prime Minister Imran Khan would address an endless public rally in the federal capital,” the minister said, adding that the plan of the rally was not changed.

“The ground politics would start on March 27 and politics would change on April 5,” he said, without elaborating on the specifics.

Sheikh said the government would not create any kind of hurdle for any legislator who wanted to participate in the voting on no-confidence motion against the PM.

“Those people who have honour and integrity would stand with Imran Khan. I stand with Imran Khan. My heart says that allies would not listen to Asif Ali Zardari and they would listen to the voice of their conscience.

The money he made from corruption is being spent to buy the lawmakers against the PM. But they all will fail,” the minister said.

“This is my message to the PTI’s disgruntled members of National Assembly: You should take their (opposition’s) money but stand with Imran Khan. I am with you. I am your advocate,” he said.

Taking on Bilawal Bhutto Zardari who threatened earlier on Saturday to stage a sit-in outside NA today (Monday) if NA session was not summoned today, the interior minister said, “Bilawal is an infant and he is threatening to stage a sit-in. On one phone call from responsible quarters, you laid flat at 90 degrees.”

The interior minister said those elements who wanted to sabotage the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) foreign ministers’ conclave were agents of imperialist powers.

“I send my condemnations and curses – on anyone who is a stooge of the imperialist powers,” he said.

“These people (opposition leaders) should see their faces in the mirror. Who can dare stop this conference. I dare them stop it if they have the courage. They will pay for it dearly,” the minister warned.

The interior minister said over 15,000 security personnel—Police, Rangers and Frontier Corps (FC) have been deployed in Islamabad for providing foolproof security related to the OIC moot.

The minister said the security of Red Zone has been handed over to Rangers and FC.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022