Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf chairman Imran Khan addressed a press conference where he clarified the party’s about turn on the nomination of Nasir Mahmood Khosa. He also spoke about the issue of the removal from the party of Farooq Bandial, convicted for robbery at Lollywood actor Shabnam’s residence in the 1980s, following outcry on social media.
Khan was accompanied during the press conference by newly inducted party member, Zulfiqar Khosa, who had left the PML-N over differences with the Sharif brothers.
“Our objective is transparent elections. After we suggest a name that becomes controversial, should we turn it into an ego issue that we will continue to stand by the name just because we proposed it?” Khan posed a rhetorical question to the press, answering it himself in the following words, “It is necessary that the umpires should be neutral.”
He said that the candidates suggested by the PTI were thought to conduct transparent elections. “We reconsidered the choice after public reaction,” he said. “It is not imperative that the focus should be on PTI withdrawing a candidate’s name that it had suggested earlier; transparent elections should be the main focus.”
When asked about Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Pervez Khattak’s insistence that elections in Fata be held at the same time as the rest of the country, Khan said that the demand was genuine. “If elections in Fata are held a few months after the general elections, the new MPAs will be inducted in the KP Assembly at a later stage. This will destabilise the government.”
Regarding the issue of Bandial’s removal, Khan said it was ‘fortunate’ that the people pointed out that he [Farooq Bandial] had a criminal record and raised their voices on the issue, following which the party expelled him.
“We came to know that he had been in the PML-N for years but it was when he came to [join] us that people spoke out,” he said, “This shows that PTI has a standard.”
Bandial had joined PTI after meeting party chairman Imran Khan on Thursday. A photo went viral on social media showing him standing next to the PTI chairman. It sparked a backlash on social media. Bandial, who hails from Khushab district, was handed a death sentence by a special military court in 1979 for committing ‘armed dacoity’ at Shabnam’s house in Gulberg area. Speaking about the Supreme Court’s recent verdict that overturned former foreign minister Khawaja Asif’s disqualification, the PTI chief said that he respected the decision, however, he said, working for a company while being a minister would be considered a ‘conflict of interest’ in any democracy.
Published in Daily Times, June 2nd 2018.
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