Ex-minister says Imran was used as a pawn

Saad Rafique claims PTI chief will soon realise his fault

LAHORE: No state institution orchestrated the Panama case controversy but we still have our reservations about certain individuals, says former minister Khawaja Saad Rafique on Sunday.

Speaking at a press conference here, Khawaja Saad said that Imran Khan was used as a pawn and no reprisals were planned against any particular individual or even PTI.

Imran, he said, would soon realise his fault.

Criticising the SC verdict, he said there was no precedent that a serving prime minister had been disqualified for not drawing his supposed salary.

He said that nothing much had changed as their political rivals expected, adding that one Sharif was shown the door but another replaced him.

“Even if this Sharif meets a similar fate, there will be another Sharif to replace him,” he said.

According to him, PML-N cadre and leadership didn’t believe in aggression, but “if our leader is attacked, we will come to his rescue”.

“People will not accept this decision,” he said.



“What is Imran Khan happy about? All of his allegations, just like his allegation about rigging in the previous election, would be proven wrong.

He said that the PM had not been disqualified over charges of money laundering, corruption or embezzlement as claimed in the Panama Case.

He contended that the prime minister had been disqualified for not drawing a salary. For this, he said, he was branded dishonest.

He wondered why the same yardstick should not be applied on ‘PCO judges’, dictators and those who collaborated with them.

Referring to the Panama case, he said a lot had happened for the first time in the country’s history.

Enumerating unprecedented events in this case, he said for the first time ever, the Supreme Court formed a JIT. He said that when the SC formed the JIT, they were left with no forum to file an appeal.

“In this situation, our party has decided to file an appeal before the people of Pakistan and Allah Almighty. We respected courts despite deep reservations over members of courts and the way they investigated.”

He said: “Our party leader Nawaz Sharif reposed full trust in the system and this is why his family appeared before the JIT despite knowing the outcome beforehand.”



He said that there was a tacit decision to accept the supremacy of law and avoid any rift between various institutions.

He said: “Our legal team wanted to challenge the court’s jurisdiction and object over remarks portraying individuals as members of Sicilian Mafia and terming them Godfather by honourable judges, but our leader advised restraint.”

He said they were not satisfied over the response when a controversy raged over a leaked picture.

“Our concerns regarding family links of two JIT members were not addressed.”

Expressing surprise over the quantum of paperwork done by the JIT in just two months, he said: “We still have our reservation, but we continue to respect the national institutions.”

Pointing towards the Dhaka Debacle, he pointed out that the nation had already paid the ultimate price when popular mandate was disrespected.

He wondered how long should the nation listen to policy-makers and minority while ignoring the will of majority. He said: “People have lost confidence over politicians.”

Acknowledging that not amending Articles 62 and 63 was “our biggest mistake”, he said: “If we had opted to amend these constitutional rules, people would have accused us of paving the way for corrupt and dishonest politicians.”



Dispelling the impression about sycophancy in party meetings as alluded to by Chaudary Nisar, he maintained: “We speak fearlessly before our leaders … Our leader patiently listens to us.”

He denied that Shehbaz Sharif had been selected as the next PM just because he was Nawaz’s younger brother and said that he was selected purely on merit and because of his exceptional leadership skills he amply demonstrated in Punjab.

He urged the apex court to take action against Sheikh Rashid for claiming that judges were offered bribes worth billions of rupees in the Panama Case and Imran Khan for claiming that a judge had requested him to call off the Islamabad lockdown and bring the matter to court.

According to him, swift action would have been taken if any PML-N leader had uttered anything like this.

He said: “We want to know if these allegations are true and if it was who told them.”

“If these allegations were not true, they are also not honest and righteous.”

“Soon, the same articles on honesty and righteousness will haunt PTI chief Imran Khan.”