ISLAMABAD: Reacting to former prime minister Imran Khan’s demand for early polls he made at his party’s Minar-i-Pakistan public meeting, Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb on Friday said the general elections would be held after the current parliament completed its tenure and warned the PTI chief against running a campaign against state institutions.

Speaking at a news conference, she described Imran Khan as “an economic terrorist” and said his policies had led to the people’s sufferings. She claimed that Imran Khan was ousted from power by his own followers and that was because he lied to the people about provision of 10 million jobs and construction of millions of houses.

She said Imran Khan’s speeches had not changed over the past four years and his arrogance and lies were not ending. “He [Imran] claimed to establish ‘state of Madina’ but was involved in money laundering through foreign funding.”

She added: “Elections will be held on time. And when the elections are held this time, the mistake of RTS’s (Results Transmission System) failure will not happen again, Imran Khan sahib.”

Warns Imran over campaign against state institutions

Referring to other elections held over the past four years, she said: “This time, fog will not appear like it did in Daska. This time, ballot boxes will not be stolen like in Daska. This time, officers of the Election Commission of Pakistan will not go missing like they were in Daska,” she added.

The information minister claimed that those who had voted for the PTI in the previous general elections would not do so in the next polls.

Without mentioning it, her press briefing was heavily focused on the speech made by Imran Khan at his public rally in Lahore on Thursday night. She maintained that the nation would decide for itself no matter what the ex-premier said from the stage, accusing him of trying to “malign” state institutions.

“We have taken notice of this campaign that you [Imran] are running against the institutions. Let me tell you today, the reason for your ouster is you and your deeds,” she said, demanding an apology from the PTI chairman.

The minister said it was the former prime minister who had snatched medicines from the public. “He [Imran] is the man who created a sugar shortage, managed [Indian premier] Modi’s campaigns and laundered money via foreign funding; you talk about the mistakes, you have attacked the Constitution and parliament, looted the Baitul Mal by selling the gifts obtained as the prime minister. Toshakhana is the country’s Baitul Mal and Imran Khan, the so-called head of ‘State of Madina’, robbed it.”

Ms Aurangzeb said all these mistakes would be corrected now. “The nation has learnt and it will vote for those who brought growth and prosperity to the country,” she claimed.

Published in Dawn, April 23rd, 2022