ISLAMABAD: In a reply to the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) chief’s outburst in Bahawalpur, Information Minister Pervez Rashid said on Saturday that instead of spouting rhetoric about electoral rigging Imran Khan should focus on the welfare of those displaced by the military operation in North Waziristan.

Speaking at a press conference a day after the PTI chief threatened to march on Islamabad on the Independence Day, the information minister accused Mr Khan and Dr Tahirul Qadri of trying to undermine the government at a time when it was delivering on promises.

Replying to each of the four questions raised by the PTI chief a day earlier, Mr Rashid revealed: “I was responsible for Nawaz Sharif’s speech on the polling day (May 11 last year),” adding that he was “ready to be hanged for this crime”.

On that day, he said, the media was reporting unofficial results and trends from most constituencies and according to all accounts the PML-N had either won or was leading in 120 of them. It was then, he said, that he requested Mr Sharif to make a speech to express his gratitude to the people and party workers.

Imran Khan had specifically asked for ROs from judiciary, says information minister

In reply to a question about returning officers (ROs), Mr Rashid said that except for the PTI, no party was pushing for the appointment of the ROs from the judiciary.

He showed reporters press clippings of Mr Khan’s statement on Oct 20, 2012, in which the PTI chief had demanded that the ROs should be taken from the judiciary. “This demand was not made by us, by the PPP, the ANP, the JUI-F or the JI. It was their own demand,” he added.

The minister regretted that there was a time when Mr Khan used to say that the judiciary was the only trustworthy institution, but “now he abuses the judiciary on a daily basis”.

Mr Rashid said the PML-N had no say in the appointments of the caretaker governments as all its nominees had been rejected by the ruling PPP.

It was the PPP which had suggested the name of Najam Sethi as interim Punjab chief minister. Moreover, he said, the caretaker government in Punjab had sidelined all those officials who had been associated with Shahbaz Sharif and appointed Chaudhry Pervez Elahi’s favourites to key positions.

Responding to the allegation that election results were changed in 35 constituencies, Mr Rashid said that had the PML-N been in a position to do something during the polls, it could have “punctured Imran Khan’s tube” in Rawalpindi, where he won his National Assembly seat.

He said the PTI had not fielded candidates in 100 constituencies in Punjab and in 70 constituencies where it had its nominees had only bagged around eight per cent of polled votes.

Published in Dawn, June 29th, 2014