Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s (PML-N) leader Senator Mushahidullah Khan on Friday hinted that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan was more concerned about cocaine than actual food not being able to make its way into Bani Gala.
“I am shocked to hear Imran Khan saying his food supply has been cut. No such instructions have been given to the police to stop food from going to Bani Gala,” the PML-N leader told a private news channel.
“If instructions have been given they are to make sure that cocaine is not being let go. No narcotics will be allowed to reach any person as it is illegal. Any time Imran Khan needs food, Islamabad police will supply him any food that he wants.
Taking another dig at the PTI chief, Khan sarcastically said Imran who was the “saviour of the downtrodden” would be given all the food he usually consumes, such as “deer meat and desi chicken.”
This is not the first time PML-N leaders have indirectly accused Imran Khan of using cocaine. In the past, Ahsan Iqbal and Najam Sethi also hinted that the PTI leader battles drug addiction.
PM Nawaz is under growing pressure from opposition parties over his children’s offshore bank accounts, revealed in the Panama Papers leak.
At a marathon consultative session inside Imran Khan’s plush mansion in Bani Gala on Friday, a senior leader in carefully chosen words spoke about the government’s crackdown on PTI that tellingly coincided with a huddle between the ruling functionaries and the army chief on Thursday. For him, the timing of the two events was a matter of concern. However, an insider claimed that the debate fizzled out shortly after it started.
An interesting argument during the debate was that if the army chief’s meeting with top PML-N leaders concluded at 5:30pm on Thursday and the government initiated the crackdown on PTI between 6:00- 6:30pm, was the army chief taken into confidence? The question, a source claimed, remained unanswered during the meeting.
Life returned to normal in Islamabad on Friday, but the scenic Bani Gala area, on the edge of the federal capital, remained abuzz with activity. The PTI chairman and his senior aides preferred to remain indoors fearing possible arrest.
Only residents and media persons were allowed to enter Bani Gala – that too after proving their identity at a police checkpoint erected Thursday night at the entrance to the narrow Korang Road, which leads to Bani Gala where Khan’s mansion is located.
Droves of PTI supporters who came to visit Imran’s residence were sent back from the checkpoint. Those who tried to make a forced entry were detained but released later on.
Three checkpoints dotted the approximately five kilometre stretch of the snaking Korang Road leading to Imran’s residence. Islamabad police and Frontier Constabulary personnel manned the checkpoints. However, some 300 diehard activists managed to make their way into Imran’s residence after trekking the uncharted hilly tracks.
Within a 300-yard radius of the Bani Gala residence, the PTI chief’s personal security staff and volunteers stood alert. No one was allowed near the mansion without an invitation from the leaders present inside.
Around 5pm, Imran made his first appearance, addressed media persons and supporters gathered some 200 yards away from his house, and went back ins
