ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah has said that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan can be arrested if evidence is found against his involvement for inciting rioters to resort to vandalism in the recent violent protests following his arrest.
Speaking at a news conference along with Minister for Information and Broadcasting Marriyum Aurangzeb, the interior minister said that every time the PTI took to the streets, the same 100-200 people were found to be involved in violent activities.
“So this means that they have been trained to do this. Imran Khan has trained them and they are his investment,” he alleged.
Imran Khan’s arrest: Rana Sanaullah warns against roadblocks, unrest
“These are terrorists and they were trained for eight months and they were told to go and set fire to specified locations,” the interior minister further alleged. He claimed that the violence in the last few days was pre-planned.
“After getting an unprecedented relief from the Supreme Court and the High Court, Imran Khan held a press conference and stated that he did not know what happened after his arrest. In the last eight months, he was sitting on a fake plaster folded on his leg. He planned and assigned every target,” Rana Sanaullah claimed.
He added that people were trained to make petrol bombs and cannons. “If this Fitna is not properly handled, I fear it will lead to another disaster,” he warned.
He regretted that the fighter jet of MM Alam was also set on fire, which was a pride of Pakistan. He said that the PTI should be banned but it requires a due legal process.
The minister said that the government has already pointed out that Imran Khan is pursuing politics of hatred. He urged the people to remove Imran Khan from politics by using the power of their vote.
He further maintained that corruption of Rs 60 billion was unearthed in the Al-Qadir Trust case, adding that Imran Khan also deceived his then cabinet.
“This money belonged to the national treasury, according to the law it had to come to the national treasury. How did you get the land of 700 kanals? No one has the powers of inheritance that you have as a trustee,” Rana Sanaullah further asked the PTI chairman.
The interior minister further stated that on the instruction of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, he along with Finance Minister Ishaq Dar had earlier approached Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman who is also president of Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) and requested him to shift the Monday’s sit-in protest out of the Red Zone.
He said that a huge number of people are coming to participate in the protest on Monday (today) and it would be difficult to handle the “angry” people.
He said, due to the huge number of expected protests, the PDM chief was requested to hold the protest outside the Red Zone. However, he added that the PDM chief said that he would give his response after consulting the PDM and his own party leaders.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023