KARACHI, Feb 22: The arrival of prime minister's inspection team coming to initiate a probe into the allegations against Imtiaz Shaikh has been delayed. The team, headed by Maj Gen Farooq was expected to arrive in the city on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Imtiaz Shaikh has demanded that all those "documents which were placed before PML Secretary General Mushahid Hussain by Chief Minister Arbab Rahim for his character assassination" should be taken by the team into its custody. He also urged the team to take all the relevant record in its possession so that no one could tamper with the record.
Referring to the inquiry against Sindh Assembly Deputy Speaker Ms Rahila Tiwana, and MNA Sardar Salim Jan Mazari, he termed it pure victimization and appealed to Gen Pervez Musharraf, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and the party chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain to direct the Sindh government to stop victimization of assembly members and PML leaders and workers.
Mr Shaikh, who was speaking to the party workers converged from different districts at his residence on Tuesday, said that he had honoured ceasefire on the directives of the central leadership of the party but from other side he was continuously being attacked.
"The coming time would determine who is part of the past. We are not afraid of any victimization as our hands are clean and the PMI's team inquiry would make it clear who is wrong and who is right", he added.
He expressed gratitude to the president, prime minister and the party chief for taking notice of the victimization actions against him and deputing the PMI's team to investigate the "charges" against him.
Mr Shaikh expressed his full confidence in the team and asked the party workers not to be discouraged from baseless propaganda and continue the membership drive with full zeal and also make preparation to contest the coming local government elections.
Informed sources said that last night Mr Shaikh had contacted the prime minister and briefed him about his side of the story. The chief minister, who had gone to Badin during the day, could not be reached by phone even after his return from his visit in the evening.