ISLAMABAD: Defence Minister Khawaja Asif has blamed incarcerated Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf founder Imran Khan’s family for “politically exploiting party [PTI]” besides alleging that some PTI leaders appeared to prefer seeing him remain behind bars.
Highlighting rifts within the PTI leadership, the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader pointed out that Aleema Khan, the former premier’s sister, had made statements before the media, while some PTI leaders appeared to prefer seeing their founder remain behind bars.
Asif, addressing a press conference in Sialkot, pointed to the November 26 protest as evidence of his claim, stating that while jailed Khan had agreed to stage a sit-in at Sangjani, Bushra took the PTI protesters to D-Chowk and then “fled from there.”
Ahead of the verdict in the high-profile £190 million case against the former premier and his wife Bushra Bibi, the defence czar expressed hope that “justice will prevail” as an accountability court was set to announce its judgment tomorrow.
He said that while accusations had been made against past rulers, what transpired during the PTI’s government was “unprecedented”.
Commenting on the £190 million settlement case, also known as the Al-Qadir Trust case, he alleged that Britain’s National Crime Agency (NCA) had sent the settlement money to Pakistan. However, the then-premier Khan allegedly used the funds to purchase land and establish the Al-Qadir Trust instead.
He asked the national media to investigate whether Al-Qadir Trust was a university or not. “We hope that a verdict will be announced tomorrow and justice will be served,” he added.
The reserved verdict of the £190 million case against the PTI founder will be announced on Monday (tomorrow) which was previously scheduled for January 6. The judgement was deferred multiple times by the accountability court which reserved it on December 18, 2024.
The former prime minister along with his wife, Bushra and others have been accused by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) of causing a loss of £190 million to the national exchequer via a settlement between the PTI government and a property tycoon.
