LAHORE: Chief Minister Chaudhry Parvez Elahi has said the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf chairman Imran Khan had clarified that the establishment had neither any role in toppling his (Khan’s) government, nor in the assassination attempt on the former premier.

Mr Elahi was referring to Mr Khan’s statement wherein he stated that “Let’s accept the establishment was not behind the regime change conspiracy, but it should have played its role and stopped the conspiracy, as it knew well about the background of the corrupt and the looters”. “No regime change conspiracy can meet success without support from within,” Mr Khan had stressed.

Speaking to the media persons here on Sunday, Elahi said the previous PML-N governments in Punjab had only staged “political dramas”, while the PTI-led coalition government in the province did massive development works.

He said Imran Khan had also made it clear that nothing was going on in the federation, except dramas. “For the past one decade or so only fake actions were taken in Punjab and the matters became worse,” he said.

Elahi said Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had been badly exposed after coming into power. Answering a query, he said the question about return of Nawaz Sharif should be asked from Sharif family and added that the PML-N leaders had “pulled long faces”.

The chief minister ordered effective steps to eradicate the incidents of kidnap of newborns. He added that under the new IT board system, alarms would start ringing if anyone tried to take an infant out of a hospital without permission.

Mr Elahi also ordered launching of an operation to remove encroachments from a piece of land near the Mayo Hospital, and added that substitute arrangements should be made for those who would be displaced during the activity.

Published in Dawn, November 21st, 2022