Imran announces protest drive against appointment of Naqvi  

Former prime minister and Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan has announced protest drive against the appointment of Caretaker Chief Minister for Punjab Mohsin Naqvi throughout the country from Tuesday (tomorrow).

He said that the PTI would stage protests in Lahore, Multan, Faisalabad and other cities of the country.

The former prime minister has rejected the appointment of Naqvi as the caretaker Punjab chief minister (CM) and alleged that Naqvi had a big role in the ‘regime change conspiracy’ against his government.

Imran also announced that the PTI would challenge the appointment of caretaker chief minister for Punjab in the court of law.

He expressed these views while addressing a press conference via video link from Zaman Park Lahore on Monday.

He reiterated that the Chief Election Commissioner is a biased and partial man as he always passed verdicts against the PTI. The CEC has been exposed before the nation after the appointment of Naqvi.

He added that they moved the top court against the judgements of the ECP eight times and the apex court nullified the verdicts of the electoral watchdogs.

Terming the Toshakhana case as a “big joke”, the deposed prime minister said that the incumbent government provided all the details about him in the case but when the court sought a record, they say “it is secret”.

He also accused PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif and Zardari of stealing vehicles from Toshakhana.

Continuing his tirade against the newly-appointed Naqvi, Khan said: “When I was in power, I received a report about a man who tried the most to topple [PTI’s] government. His name was Mohsin Naqvi. The intelligence bureau also gave a report on his activities.”

The deposed prime minister, whose government was toppled last April due to a no-confidence motion against him, censured the Punjab interim chief minister for his association with the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari.

He said that Mohsin Naqvi was very active against the PTI government and played an important role in removing the government.

He said that he was very close to Asif Ali Zardari and Zardari called him his son.

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The former premier recalled that Naqvi played a central character in the conspiracy of the regime change, adding that the caretaker chief minister was sworn enemy of the PTI.

He said that Naqvi had made a plea bargain with NAB and returned millions of rupees, proofing that he was a corrupt person.

“The standards of our democracy have degraded so much that no one trusts the government to conduct transparent elections. The basic reason behind a caretaker government is its neutrality.”

The former premier lamented that the names proposed for the interim CM slot by his party were all rejected.

“We chose Nasir Khosa’s name thinking they will like it. Ahmed Sukhera was the cabinet secretary at the time, we thought there wouldn’t be an objection to him too. Naveed Akram Cheema was also [Prime Minister] Shehbaz Sharif’s secretary. But they rejected all our names.”

Imran maintained that the foundation of democracy is morality, adding a number of rulers in the West had resigned when they happened to commit any tinny mistakes, showing their high standard of the morality.

He explained the purpose of caretaking setup in the country is to conduct free and fair elections. For this cause, neutral individuals are appointed, he said, adding that the PTI had proposed such persons for the slot of the Punjab caretaker CM, who enjoyed good reputation in every circle.

He recalled that in KP, the JUI-F had proposed the name of Azam Khan and the PTI had accepted it at once as Azam Khan is very respectable person in the KP.

In Punjab, the opposition had proposed those persons, who were their loyal men, Imran maintained, adding they were not neutral and impartial at all.

He observed that it is no use in holding elections in such environment where biased and partial persons are appointed on such important positions.

“Mohsin Naqvi will bring all those people who are our staunch opponents,” the former prime minister said .

He recalled that whenever in the past, injustice had been done, the country suffered the worst, causing even breakup of the homeland.

He said that just sidelining a popular leader (Imran), the present imported rulers are destroying the country for satisfying their personal ego. He asserted that the PTI was trying to steer the country out of economic crisis.

He urged the people to come out against this injustice and register their protest peacefully.