ISLAMABAD: PTI’s central information secretary, Sheikh Waqqas Akram, on Sunday claimed the party’s founder, Imran Khan, never relied on foreign intervention to secure deals, like his political rivals.

Mr Akram named President Asif Zardari and PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif, who he claimed had “negotiated deals” in the past to leave the country to avoid imprisonment.

The PTI leader was responding to the allegations levelled by PML-N leader Khawaja Asif and PPP Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari. The former had claimed the PTI founder was an “asset” for Israel, while the latter said foreign powers were targeting Pakistan’s nuclear and missile programmes under the guise of supporting Mr Khan.

In a statement on Sunday, Mr Akram said the two leaders were targeting the PTI founder “to garner public attention and media coverage”.

PTI spokesperson lambasts Kh Asif, Bilawal’s accusations against ex-PM

He said Mr Khan consistently opposed foreign conspiracies and interventions.

He reminded Mr Asif that he used to call the PTI founder “Taliban Khan” and then started labelling him an “Israeli asset”.

PML-N used to call Mr Khan “a project of the army”, Mr Akram said, and asked: “By calling Khan an Israeli asset, are you trying to accuse the Pakistan Army of supporting the PTI at the behest of Israel?”

He claimed Mr Asif’s repeatedly made statements that “embarrassed Pakistan on the international stage” despite him holding key position as defence minister.

Mr Akram called the PPP chairman an “angry political child” and warned him to refrain from censuring Imran Khan, who is a “leader of international stature”.

“[President] Zardari has a history of exploiting his politically immature young son as a tool to pressure PML-N into making concessions by unleashing him to target Sharifs to gain leverage in negotiations,” Mr Akram claimed.

Mr Akram also claimed that the PTI founder’s rivals privately acknowledged that he sacrificed his comfort for Pakistan’s “greater good” and admitted the bitter truth that only “he was a political reality”.

Mr Khan is a leader of “international stature”, while his critics were “mere pawns unleashed by their masters to unnecessarily criticise him,” Mr Akram said, adding the political decline of Sharif and Zardari families was imminent.

On the coalition of PPP and PML-N, Mr Akram said this “power-hungry clique” didn’t enter the “marriage of convenience” to serve the nation’s interests but to “deliberately push Imran Khan out of the political landscape”.

“Their sinister plan ultimately backfired, as they failed miserably in their attempts to sideline him.”

Published in Dawn, December 30th, 2024