–Punjab law minister says ‘aliens’ will create list of PTI candidates for elections
LAHORE: Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah on Friday admitted that the government was helpless to arrest Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) chief Khadim Hussain Rizvi because of the agreement signed between the TLP and the government, wherein the army played a role of a ‘mediator’.
The three-week-long sit-in at the Faizabad Interchange had ended only after an agreement was signed between the government and the protesters, in which the government conceded to most of the protesters’ demands, including that of removal of the then law minister Zahid Hamid.
It is pertinent to mention here Maj Gen Faiz Hameed of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) had signed the agreement in the capacity of ‘guarantor’.
Speaking to media, the law minister said, “The [PML-N] government is not backing off but there is an agreement present with the signatures of the guarantor and the government and we have to abide by it.”
Rizvi, along with other leaders who participated in Faizabad sit-in, has been declared a proclaimed offender by an anti-terrorism court after he repeatedly skipped the court proceedings.
Commenting on the attack on Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal, the Punjab law minister said that security should be beefed up and the mindset giving rise to such incidents should be amended.
Rana demanded stern action against the elements involved in creating such a mindset. It is pertinent to mention here that Ahsan Iqbal escaped an assassination attempt last Sunday in Narowal. He was shot at by a man who showed affiliation with the TLP.
‘Aliens running election cell’
Regarding the unspecified ‘aliens’ who the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has recently begun blaming for political engineering, the provincial law minister said that they have had a limited role to play in every election in the country, “but this time because of media, social media, and people’s awareness, their role will be made further limited”.
He, however, stated that the ‘aliens’ were not managing but “actually contesting elections”. He alleged that the lists of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) candidates were being created by the ‘aliens’.
He said, “They first threatened the electables with NAB [cases] and are now pleading with them,” adding that, “You can say that they [celestial beings] are working as an election cell.”