Government ministers came out all guns blazing against PTI Chairman Imran Khan who revealed what he called documentary proof of rigging in the 2013 elections. Information Minister Senator Pervaiz Rashid accused the PTI top hierarchy of stealing taxes by not revealing their actual sources of income, while Railways Minister Khawaja Saad Rafique alleged that a foreign lobby was using Imran to destabilise Pakistan.
Speaking at a news conference at the Press Information Department in Islamabad, Senator Rashid claimed that Imran was a tax-evader who has not paid taxes on income from hundreds of acres of agriculture lands he owned in several districts of Punjab, including Bhakkar and Khanewal.
Showing a video footage of Imran’s agriculture lands and farm houses through a projector, the minister alleged that the PTI chief was evading taxes while he also owed the government a loan worth Rs0.5 million. “Imran has shown over Rs2.3 million in agriculture income in his tax return but didn’t pay any tax on this income,” he claimed.
Senator Rashid asked why Imran had not paid taxes on his agriculture lands while he possessed over Rs13 million in cash. “Why is Imran holding such a huge amount in cash? Why is this money not in banks,” he said, adding that this cash was, in fact, black money. Imran should answer all these questions,” he added.
The minister further claimed that Imran had paid only Rs194,936 in taxes this year while Nawaz Sharif had paid Rs4.7 million. “The prime minister gave Rs2.4 billion on account of taxes on his sugar mills after 2007,” he told journalists. He advised the PTI chairman to refrain from giving his own verdict before the election tribunal announces its decision. “The PTI chairman is trying to influence the courts,” he added.
Senator Rashid’s cabinet colleague, Khawaja Saad Rafique issued a scathing rejoinder to the PTI, alleging that a foreign lobby was using Imran to destabilise Pakistan. At a news conference where he was flanked by other party colleagues, the railways minister refuted Imran’s claims, saying that the PTI chief was actually undermining national interests.
Responding to PTI’s allegations that extra ballot papers were printed for the 2013 elections, he said this SOP had been adopted by the Election Commission of Pakistan in all previous elections. About alleged rigging in the constituency from where he won the 2013 elections, Saad Rafique argued that neither a written complaint nor a photo or video evidence was presented as proof.
He said Imran was ‘intellectually dishonest’ who dreamt of becoming the prime minister of Pakistan in his childhood, but Pakistani voters did not support him in realising his dream. Referring to the Awami Muslim League chief, Rafique said Imran didn’t need any enemy in the presence of Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed.
Defending the PML-N leadership, he claimed that Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif had given a model of good governance in his province.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 29th, 2014.
COMMENTS (4)
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@Zafar: And sycophants of democracy destroyers are active again to justify the wrong doings of whom they support.
Derbaris got active again. They speak nothing but bunch of lies. People pay GST tax and not Nawaz on sugar products and the cheif derbari misrepresents this as tax paid by Nawaz. What a shame! They deserve nothing but eggs and shoes on their faces.
@Parvez: And on IK's face as well. Get fair.
This will result in........more egg on the governments face.