ISLAMABAD: Incarcerated Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founding chairman, Imran Khan, on Tuesday, said that we are ready to hold talks with the military, and the army should appoint their representative and we will hold talks with them.

Talking to media persons after hearing of the Al-Qadir Trust case against him and his wife Bushra Bibi, he said that we never levelled allegations against the army but we have criticised it.

“If there is a spoiled child in the house, he should be criticized,” he said, adding that we have criticised the army as criticism is the beauty of democracy. When he was asked that your recent statements showed that you wanted to improve relations with the army against which you have levelled allegations, he said that he never accused the army and just criticised it. “Do not teach us that the army never committed any mistake,” he said.

Khan further said that we had given a mandate to Mehmood Khan Achakzai for negotiation, if the other side [the government] had nominated anyone then we would have negotiated with them.

To a question about of lack of trust over Achakzai, he said that we have complete trust in Achakzai.

To another query about negotiation with Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, Khan said that he would never hold talk to Naqvi. He [Naqvi] along with the Inspector General of Police (IGP) committed oppression on our people. They are responsible for the murder of PTI worker Zille Shah, he said.

I fully support Jamaat–e-Islami (JI) sit-in against inflated electricity bills and inflation in the country and our party will participate in it, he said, adding that he will ask his party leadership to participate in JI sit-in.

I also support people in Balochistan who took to the street for the recovery of missing persons, Khan said. He demanded the Islamabad High Court (IHC) Chief Justice Aamer Farooq to recuse himself from his cases.

Khan said that his cases should be referred to any other high court judges except for the chief justice.

Responding to a question about Jamiat-e-Ulema-e-Islam (JUI) Chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman’s call for resigning from assemblies, Khan said that he [the Maulana] is talking about the third stage.

Earlier, the Accountability Court judge, Muhammad Ali Warraich, while hearing the £190 million National Crime Agency (NCA) scam commonly known as the Al-Qadir Trust case, recorded the statement of investigation officer (IO) Umair Rathore and the defence counsel also completed his cross-examination.

The court, after recording the statement of the witness, adjourned the hearing of the case till August 3.

NNI adds: Imran said that Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz was also a ‘fascist’.

PTI’s founder also said if there was any party worker involved in the May 9 riots, he or she should be punished. He alleged that the sole objective of the government was to pit the PTI against the establishment to dismember the party.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024