LAHORE: PTI central Punjab senior vice president Akmal Khan Bari on Friday strongly reacted to interior minister Sarfaraz Ahmed Bugti’s statement, calling PTI Chairman Imran Khan as the ‘Laadla’ of the judiciary while the caretaker government had instituted around 300 fake cases against him.

In a video message, Mr Bari said the caretaker governments in the centre, Punjab and Khyber were only supposed to hold free and fair elections but they were busy in crackdown on PTI leaders and workers.

Stating that the caretakers wanted to impose the most corrupt person on Pakistan while relaxing all laws, Mr Bari said the caretakers should formally join politics and give their manifestos to people instead of meddling with the political affairs of the country.

Referring to PML-N chief organiser Maryam Nawaz’ statements that she had got videos, Mr Bari said this was the reason that different people, including Khawar Maneka, had given statements against Imran. After a book by Reham Khan, he said, another woman’s book had been relaunched.

“Don’t hit below the belt but contest in the political arena with your manifesto and let people decide,” he told the caretakers. He regretted that the caretaker government also instituted a case against PTI secretary general Omar Ayub Khan for attending his father Gohar Ayub Khan’s funeral.

Akmal Bari said the caretaker governments were also instituting cases against the PTI leaders and workers if they protest in favour of Palestine. He said the police were also out to harass people.

“The caretakers should perform their original duty of making arrangements and holding free and fair elections and let people decide who was their Laadla,” Mr Bari asserted.

Published in Dawn, November 25th, 2023