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January 26, 2024

Imran Says ‘Inactive’ Nominees to Lose Candidature

Islamabad: As PTI-backed candidates struggle to launch their election campaign amid a crackdown on party supporters, imprisoned PTI founder Imran Khan has war­ned that he would replace ‘inactive’ nominees with ‘suitable candidates’ if the former failed to step up their election campaigns.

The PTI leader made these comments during his interaction with reporters at Adiala Jail on Tuesday after the hearing of the cipher case, in which star witness  Asad Majeed  — a central character in the cipher controversy — recorded his statement.

Speaking to reporters, Mr Khan asked his party’s candidates to take out ‘massive rallies’ and organize public gatherings to show the strength of the PTI in their constituencies. He said their tickets would be cancelled if the PTI electioneering did not pick up steam by Sunday.

“I will replace such nominees with suitable candidates,” he said, asking the public to remain peaceful.

He said the PTI was being denied the fundamental right of electioneering and its “camp offices were also being upro­oted”. Still, he appeared confident, saying that despite the alleged backing of the state machinery, his opponent “might run away from the elections”.

“We sacrificed our two provincial governments for the sake of elections within the stipulated timeframe,” he said, adding that the Supreme Court would not let anyone delay polls.

To a question about former PML-N stalwart Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, Imran Khan said with a smile that he had asked Mr Nisar to join the PTI in April 2018, but he did not accept the offer. “It is up to Chaudhry Nisar…he can affiliate himself with the PTI, it is up to him to decide,” chimed in Shah Mehmood Qureshi.

Mr Khan quipped “a Vigo [vehicle] will be parked outside his residence” if he decided to align himself with the PTI. Imran Khan frequently uses words like ‘Vigo’ and ‘software updates’ to refer to the intelligence agencies’ ostensible involvement in political machinations.

Cipher cross-examination

On Tuesday, six prosecution witnesses recorded their statements and cross-examination will start soon. Initially, there were 28 witnesses, but only 25 testified before the court after three witnesses were dropped from the list.

Besides Interior Secretary Aftab Akbar Durrani, ex-envoy to the US Asad Majeed recorded his statement in the case.

In his testimony, Mr Majeed recollected his meeting with the US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Donald Lu. He said that both sides were aware that the minutes of the meeting were being recorded and would be communicated to their respective governments.

He further said that he communicated the information to the foreign affairs secretary through a cipher, who transmitted it to the foreign minister, the prime minister, and others.

The National Security Committee decided to send a demarche to the US after the cipher was discussed in its meeting. He termed the cipher episode a “setback” in Pak-US relations.

While he was testifying before the court, Mr Khan said Asad Majeed “is a very credible officer”.

However, when the ex-envoy concluded that there was no word of ‘conspiracy’ or ‘threat’ in the diplomatic cable, Mr Khan retorted that is why the government issued the demarche to the US.

NAB references

Separately, Attorney General Mansoor Usman Awan concluded the arguments on the petitions against the jail trial of Imran Khan in the  Toshakhana  and  Al-Qadir Trust .

An Islamabad High Court (IHC) division bench comprising Chief Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri resumed hearing the petitions.

Mr Khan’s counsel Shuaib Shaheen argued that the notification was issued in violation of the relevant laws. He pointed out that another division bench had scrapped the proceedings while observing flaws in the issuance of the notification of jail trial.

Attorney General Awan argued that the matter before the other bench was not identical. He said that the government completed all the codal formalities before the jail trial. The court put off further hearing till Wednesday when the counsel for Mr Khan would give his arguments. Mr Khan also filed petitions seeking post-arrest bail in these references.

 

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