ISLAMABAD, Aug 05 (APP): Minister for Information and Broadcasting Marriyum Aurangzeb on Saturday strongly refuted the impression that the arrest of chairman PTI Imran Khan was linked to politics or upcoming elections.

“Imran Khan was not arrested by the government, only court’s verdict was implemented when he was sentenced in Tosha Khana case,” she said while addressing a press conference here.

The minister said that the investigation of PTI chairman’s crimes had been going on for over one year, more than 40 hearings were done in the Tosha Khana case, but PTI chairman appeared only three times.

She said that it was a simple case of a thief punished for his crime and any effort to link it with politics or elections was unjustified. “All the legal requirements have been met and after the trial is over, the court has given its verdict, in the case of Tosha Khana and his theft has proved,” she said.

The minister read the court verdict which said, ” It has been successfully proven that the accused has committed offense of corrupt practices by making and publishing false statements and submitted false and incorrect declarations and material in particular related to Form B of the year 2021″.

The minister said all thieves arrested in various cases also have their vote, so should they all be released before elections?
She said that Imran Khan, despite given ample opportunity to provide proofs and file response to questions regarding corruption and misuse of power, he failed to file replies to allegations against him.

Whenever, he was asked to file reply to allegations of corruption, he incited the PTI workers to attack national institutions, she said. She reminded the media that the investigation into the crimes of the PTI chairman had been going on for past one year time. “More than forty hearings of the Tosha Khana case were done and the accused was given ample opportunity to clear himself”, she said.

She said that after fulfilling all the legal requirements and completion of the trial, the court pronounced the verdict.
She said that Imran Khan sold the Tosha Khana gifts in the market even before purchasing them which was unique action.

Marriyum Aurangzeb said the chairman PTI used to make excuses whenever he was asked for an answer in allegations of corruption and malpractices.
She said that despite of the providing all the opportunities to clear his name, Imran Khan continued to lie in his answers in the Tosha Khana theft case.

Imran Khan, she continued, also lied in the case of 190 million pounds theft case and in the case of cipher.
She also disclosed that the chairman PTI did not disclose correct assets in election returns. The minister said that Imran Khan, had declared three houses in Form B and tax returns of three years.

Imran Khan declared only Rs 500,000 furniture in his 300 kanal house in Bani Gala, 8 kanal house in Zaman Park and his wife’s three kanal house in Bani Gala, she said.
She said that Imran Khan did not declare even a single tola of gold, but honestly declared two goats in his tax returns.

Taking a jibe on Imran Khan, she said a thief was on the run for 15 months trying to hide his theft.
She said that no one could compare the arrest of Imran Khan with the arrest of Muhammad Nawaz Sharif. Imran Khan was gifted watches, diamond sets, rings etc but he sold the watch before buying it from Tosha Khana and could not provide any proof of selling the watch in the entire proceedings.

The minister opined that today, the public found out the real reasons behind the May 9 incidents as a thief was running away from accountability.

She reminded that whenever Imran Khan appeared before the court of law, the judicial complex was attacked, when the police went to Zaman Park with a warrant, they were attacked with petrol bombs. The vehicles of the police and rangers were torched by the PTI goons when they went to Imran Khan’s residence in Lahore on the courts directives.

She said that Imran’s punishment in 190 million pound theft case, foreign funding case, the Cipher issue concoction was still pending.
The minister said effort was being made to compare the arrest of Imran Khan with the arrest of Nawaz Sharif.

She said Nawaz Sharif was a three-time elected Prime Minister, whose name was not even mentioned in Panama leaks but Imran Khan accused him. Only on allegations, the then prime minister Nawaz Sharif wrote a letter to the Supreme Court and presented himslef for accountability, she said.

The federal minister said that Nawaz Sharif gave an account of 40 years of his family, even provided documents of his late father. When no evidence could be traced against Nawaz Sharif in Panama, he was disqualified for not taking salary from his son’s firm and barred from contesting the election, even he was removed from the party presidency, she expressed.

If the government had the intention to arrest Imran Khan politically, Shehbaz Sharif had the same authority that Imran Khan (mis) used as the chief executive of the country, she said.
“If we had to make a false case, we would have used NAB and FIA to arrest Imran Khan on the first day after coming to power”, she added.

Marriyum Aurangzeb said this was the case of his own tenure as a journalist Rana Abrar during his prime ministership raised the issue who was dismissed from the job.
The minister said Imran Khan did not file replies to the questions of the court and if he filed any answer, these were based on lies.

Nawaz Sharif presented himself for accountability on baseless allegations, whereas Imran Khan looted the national exchequer being the Prime Minister.
Imran Khan was a foreign funding agent who lied to the people and the courts of law and incited his supporters on violence to hide his corruption, she added.

The information minister clarified that Imran Khan was not arrested by the government, in fact the trial court sentenced him after completion of a free trial giving Imran ample opportunity to defend himslef. If the government had to arrest, they would have arrested in April 2022, this was not its aim, its target was revival of the economy ruined by four years incompetent and inefficient Imran Khan regime, she clarified.

Imran Khan accused political opponents and took the case against Shehbaz Sharif to United Kingdom’s NCA but to his chagrin it decided that neither money laundering nor corruption was done, she said.

Earlier at the start of the press conference, she said that there were speculative reports in the media regarding the Council of Common Interests (CCI) being held in Islamabad today.
She said a meeting of the Council was convened at 11 am under the chairmanship of the Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif which she added was postponed for 2 hours as flight of Balochistan chief minister was delayed.

She said that no final decision on CCI agenda items was taken yet. Speculations should be avoided as the CCI is a sensitive forum, she remarked.