Prohibited funding case: ‘Action against PTI according to Constitution & law’

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister of Railways Khawaja Saad Rafique said the government would act according to the Constitution and law on the prohibited funding case against the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).

Addressing a press conference here on Wednesday, the minister said that consultations were being held at the level of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) and a decision would most probably be made in a day or two according to the Constitution and the law regarding the prohibited funding case.

He said a PDM meeting being attended by all the political parties was in progress and the decision might be taken about the confiscation of prohibited funding to decide about the future course of action as well.

Rafique said that two committees had been constituted for legal and political consultation in that regard and those gave their recommendations to the PDM with all the options amiable to proceed on what he called the foreign funding case in the light of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP)’s decision.

The minister further stated said that former prime minister Imran Khan had violated the Constitution with his speaker and the president, which was also declared by the apex court.

The previous government’s four years’ period at the federal level and nine years’ rule in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa was not something to be cherished.

He said the economy was left by him on a ventilator and not a single mega project was started and his government had doubled the debt of the country in his four years’ tenure. “We removed his government as per Constitution.”

Rafique said the important question was Indian, Emirati, and American citizens and companies were sending money to Imran Khan and if he was taking money from them legitimately, why did he hide the accounts. He said those accounts had been caught and exposed by the Election Commission. He said Imran was supported by foreign citizens with the objective to roll back the CPEC and that was what he had done.

He said the country’s economy was in a very bad situation when they came to power and the only option available before them was either to allow it to go bankrupt or to take its burden, “so we decided to take this burden.”

The Minister for Railways added that the entire politics of the PTI was based on defaming its opponents and alleged it for creating hatred and divide in the country for the sake of power.

However, he said that now the people of Pakistan would hold him accountable and added that if the PTI tried to threaten the institutions, all the democratic forces including the PDM would stand against him and defend the federal capital as it was never done before.

The minister said the martyrdom of armed forces’ officials in Balochistan was a national tragedy as Pakistan armed forces have always helped the citizens of the country at times of natural disasters and the government shares their families’ grief equally.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022