ISLAMABAD: Hours former prime minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Imran Khan announced a nationwide volunteer arrest and ‘stuff jail’ movement on Saturday, the federal government challenged him to become the first to voluntarily surrender before police.
This was stated by Federal Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb on Saturday evening while addressing a news conference in Islamabad alongside Faisal Karim Kundi.
Reacting to the latest movement announced by the PTI chief, Marriyum suggested that Imran should lead by example and become the first volunteer to be arrested to kick off his movement.
She said the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leadership has presented its record of past four years and now the PTI chief will have to answer for the failing the economy and security situation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and taking the country back to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
She echoed Imran’s words that the nation was looking expectantly towards the courts as PTI leaders were getting swift relief.
Challenging how long Imran can stay in jail, she gave a break down for the time that various federal coalition leaders had spent behind bars without seeking any compensation from the then PTI government.
Without naming PTI leader Fawad Chaudhry, Ms Aurangzeb said those who shed tears after facing imprisonment for just two days could never voluntarily surrender themselves and make their stuff-jail movement a success.
She said KP got Rs471 billion but questioned about the capacity building of the provincial police to deal with terrorism.
The information minister said the PTI-led former KP government did not spend money on capacity building of the counter terrorism department (CTD) nor did it build a forensic lab or bought equipment.
She claimed Imran Khan did nothing to protect the KP police, Rangers, people of the province and army personnel in KP.
Claiming that Imran’s recent statements appeared to be coming from someone suffering from mental problems, she noted that there were legal provisions that allowed for such a person, certified by a court to be not of sound mind, to be restrained from holding key offices.
Kundi said they were briefed on the Peshawar Police Lines attack and the state of police by KP IGP Moazzam Jah Ansari, an officer appointed by the PTI government, and that it was he who had pointed to the lack of capacity, equipment and training.
