ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), secretary general, Ahsan Iqbal, Thursday, claimed that five ministers of Prime Minister Imran Khan’s cabinet were in contact with his party.

Talking to reporters after appearing before the Accountability Court in the Narowal Sport City Complex Project (NSCCP) case, he wanted to inform those ministers who were asking opposition to bring vote of no confidence against the government that five ministers of the present cabinet were in contact with the PML-N. “The day PML-N gave assurance of provision of party tickets to these five ministers in the next general election, they will leave Imran Khan,” he said.

Iqbal further said that Imran Khan’s own ministers themselves were saying that they have not seen such a “liar and dictator”.

To a question about tabling of vote of no confidence, he said that the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) will consider all options in its meeting to be held on February 11.

“Every constitutional, democratic and political way will be adopted to get rid of this corrupt government,” he said.

Iqbal asked the government’s allied parties including the PML-Q, MQM-P, and the Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) to decide whether they are standing with the country’s destruction, inflation and corruption or they are with the public.

If the allied parties of the government continued support of the government they will bear the brunt of the present crises in the next general elections, he said.

Iqbal said that the PDM’s long march on March 23 will be a decisive long march. On March 23 people from different walks of life including labourers, students, youth, and political workers from Karachi, Gwadar, Peshawar, Lahore, Narowal, Bahawalpur, Multan, Dera Ghazi Khan and from every part of the country will participate in the long march which would be a public referendum against the PTI-led government. He said that the present government has lost public confidence as all bye-elections have been won by the PML-N.

He said that after the disqualification of Faisal Vawda the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) bill, which was bulldozed by the government from the Senate, has lost its constitution and legal status. Earlier, he and other accused appeared before Accountability Court-III in the NSCCP case.

The court allowed Iqbal and other accused to leave the court after marking their attendance. The court took a short break due to the absence of Iqbal’s lawyer. Later, Iqbal’s counsel Zulfiqar Ali Naqvi arrived and argued before the court over acquittal application filed by his client under 265-K of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC).

Iqbal’s counsel told the court that the NAB has neither produced any concrete evidence of corruption nor any evidence of mismanagement in the project against his client. The NAB had filed a reference and arrested Iqbal just for his character assassination, he said, adding that the NSCCP was a public interest project.

Naqvi further argued that the NSCCP was approved by the Central Development Working Party (CDWP) and other relevant forums. The NSCCP was approved when his client was not a minister, he said. He requested the court to approve his client’s application and acquit him.

The NAB prosecutor, while objecting to Naqvi’s request told the court that the NAB has sufficient evidence against Iqbal and the reference falls under the jurisdiction of the NAB. He requested the court to reject Iqbal’s acquittal application. The court after hearing arguments of both the parties reserved its judgement till February 23rd.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022