ISLAMABAD: Incarcerated PTI founder Imran Khan has warned that he would replace ‘inactive’ nominees with ‘active and suitable candidates’ if the former failed to step up their election campaigns
The PTI leader made these comments during his interaction with reporters at Adiala Jail after the hearing of the cipher case, in which star witness Asad Majeed — a central character in the cipher controversy — recorded his statement.
Speaking to reporters, Mr Khan asked his party’s candidates to take out ‘massive rallies’ and organise public gatherings to show the strength of the PTI in their constituencies. He said their tickets would be cancelled if the PTI electioneering did not pick up steam by Sunday. “I will replace such nominees with suitable candidates,” he said, asking the public to remain peaceful.
He said the PTI was being denied the fundamental right of electioneering and its “camp offices were also being uprooted”. Still, he appeared confident, saying that despite the alleged backing of the state machinery, his opponent “might run away from the elections”.
“We sacrificed our two provincial governments for the sake of elections within the stipulated timeframe,” he said, adding that the Supreme Court would not let anyone delay polls.
In a question about former PML-N stalwart Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, Imran Khan said with a smile that he had asked Mr Nisar to join the PTI in April 2018, but he did not accept the offer. “It is up to Chaudhry Nisar…he can affiliate himself with the PTI, it is up to him to decide,” chimed in Shah Mehmood Qureshi.
Mr Khan quipped “a Vigo [vehicle] will be parked outside his residence” if he decided to align himself with the PTI. Imran Khan frequently uses words like ‘Vigo’ and ‘software updates’ to refer to the intelligence agencies’ ostensible involvement in political machinations.
‘Save Lu mission’
Talking to the media persons again, Mr Khan alleged that the cipher case was registered to save Mr Lu and ex-army chief Qamar Javed Bajwa. He said the US government would sack Mr Lu if his involvement in the alleged ‘regime change conspiracy’ was established.
He claimed that the then military attaché communicated the information to Gen Bajwa directly and then the no-confidence motion against him was tabled.
“We ordered an investigation into the cipher conspiracy but the committee could not undertake the assignment because of certain threats,” claimed the former prime minister.