ISLAMABAD: The government has alleged that some foreign powers are using Imran Khan and “other elements” to destabilise the country, and rejected his demand for a caretaker set-up of technocrats.

Addressing a press conference, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar said Imran Khan’s white paper about election rigging and economic issues was “nothing but a pack of lies”.

He said the PTI chief knew well that his demand for a caretaker government was illegal and unconstitutional and the prime minister could not be removed according to his wishes.

He said the Karachi Stock Exchange lost over Rs300 billion in market capitalisation in a single day fall of over 1,300 points last week and the overall loss had increased significantly in subsequent days because of the marches planned by Mr Khan and Dr Tahirul Qadri for Aug 14.

Mr Dar said all political parties were of the view that the so-called Inqilab March should not be allowed to place the country into a situation like the one prevailing in Syria.

The minister said he had no doubts about Imran Khan’s loyalty to the country but sometimes `brainwashing’ by`effective players’ could mislead leaders like him who did not take pains to verify facts and went public with his pre-conceived notions.

In reply to a question, Mr Dar declined to name foreign powers who according to him were working to destabilise the country but said the powers had been forecasting that there was no future for Pakistan beyond June and had written off the country from the global scene after 2015. However, he added, the government was able to turn the corner and prove such doomsday scenarios and pundits wrong with its successful economic initiatives.

To another question, he said the government enjoyed good relations with the establishment and both were working in cohesion and mentioned Operation Zarb-i-Azb as an example of the cordiality, saying the decision for the operation had been taken jointly.

Except for one party, he said, all stakeholders were unanimous in protecting democracy, parliament and the Constitution.

Privatisation Minister Mohammad Zubair said Imran Khan’s claims about rigging were not correct in the light of reports submitted by international and local observers about the polls.

He advised the PTI leader to take responsibility for poor performance of his party in the polls.

He said an internal inquiry carried out by the PTI under the supervision of retired bureaucrat Tasnim Noorani did not allege election rigging but pointed to internal party problems.

Published in Dawn, August 14th, 2014