Of all the political forces in the country, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leadership seems to be the most perturbed by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Imran Khan’s successful show at Minar-e-Pakistan on Sunday, and their uneasiness is amply reflected from their comments on the huge public gathering.
Interestingly, Imran’s call for declaration of assets was meant for everybody in the political class, but only the PML-N leaders, from National Assembly Opposition Leader Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan to party spokesman Pervaiz Rasheed, were seen on the forefront clearing themselves of the charges, telling the people they had already declared their asserts. But Imran Khan rejected their clarification and said he wanted
the declaration of real assets and not the ones claimed by the PML-N leaders. Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif backed the asset declaration proposal and said he had already declared his assets in 2007, which had also been released by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) in its list. At the same time, he urged others to do the same. Those who had assets within the country, they should also make them public, he added. Shahbaz also remarked that talking about the poor while building a house of over 100 kanals did not sound good.
SANAULLAH: The pick of the reaction came from party hardliner Rana Sanaullah, who announced that his party would soon also organise a public meeting at Minar-e-Pakistan to neutralise Imran Khan, as if conceding his party’s defeat at Minar-e-Pakistan two days ago.
Sana said although the PTI succeeded in filling up 18,000 seats, the truth behind the show was that the establishment was controlling the public gatherings in Lahore and Karachi and even the timings of Imran Khan and Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) chief Altaf Hussain were adjusted, the Punjab law minister added. He said further that Altaf delivered the shortest speech of his life only to provide an opportunity for Imran to address the crowd. Sana said Imran did not even know that a parliamentarian had to provide details of his or her assets before they were allowed to join the House.
Senator Pervez Rasheed said one could only describe public meetings as “either good or very good”. “Who really left the mark will be decided by the vote,” he said. He said Shahbaz Sharif had declared his assets four years ago.
PPP Punjab General Secretary Samiullah Khan said the future would decide how Imran Khan would penetrate into politics but he had succeeded in mobilising the citizens of Lahore.
To a question about the declaration of assets of the politicians, he said every elected member of the assembly had to declare their assets and it was a constitutional obligation of all parliamentarians. He said Imran Khan should have elaborated on his demand, seeing as such laws were already in place.
