A day after Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan announced to launch a million-man long march to Islamabad on August 14, while accusing the government of gross negligence during the May 11 elections, Information Minister Pervaiz Rashid took the pulpit Saturday to respond to the accusations, saying that Khan should “hang him” as he had arranged Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s victory speech on the day of last year’s general elections.
“I was responsible for Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s victory speech on the day of elections. I am ready to face any punishment, including the capital punishment from Imran Khan if he considers this as a crime,” said the information minister during a press conference, while replying to Khan’s accusations of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) jumping the gun on their victory announcement.
Rashid said the PML-N had won from 120 constituencies when he asked Sharif to make a victory speech at 11:20pm on the day of general elections.
On June 27, Khan had hurled various accusations at the premier, asking him to reveal the names of people who had arranged his victory speech on the night of May 11, 2013 when only 15 per cent of the votes had been counted.
Khan had also objected to the appointment of caretaker Punjab chief minister Najam Sethi, the role of former chief justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry and ‘honesty’ of returning officers (ROs) for the elections, questioning if they acted as subordinates to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).
Moreover, during the PTI’s rally in Bahawalpur Friday, Khan had made four demands to Sharif’s government which he said he wanted to be addressed within one month, failing which he would launch a million-man ‘tsunami march’ to Islamabad.
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During the press conference yesterday, Rashid responded to Khan’s allegation saying that ROs for the elections were appointed on PTI chief’s demand to the Election Commission while Sethi’s name for the caretaker Punjab chief minister was given by Pakistan People’s Party (PPP).
The PML-N minister produced a copy of Khan’s old statements during the press conference, saying that “taking U-turns is Khan’s old habit”.
Rashid said that Khan’s allegations about appointments in the interim government were baseless since the Supreme Court had appointed the interim prime minister. “Sethi had appointed Pervez Elahi’s people in the information and home departments but PML-N never complained,” Rashid added.
Harping about the transparency in last year’s general elections and responding to Khan’s famous “35 punctures” allegation, the information minister said that the PML-N would have “blasted PTI’s entire tube” if this had been the case. In this respect, Rashid also cited the example of Hanif Abbasi’s failure in Rawalpindi, saying that Abbasi had lost a seat which he had been repeatedly winning in the past, implying that there was nothing wrong in last year’s elections.
The information minister went on to make a snide comment about PTI’s rallies, advising the PTI chief to spend money on internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Waziristan instead of holding public rallies.
“I would request Imran Khan to donate Rs 200 million to the IDPs rather than orchestrating the long march to Islamabad. In this way he would not only be getting prayers from the affected people but would also help in assisting the provincial government of his party,” he said.
