Neutrals were not actually neutral, says Mazari

Can you remain neutral when destruction of country is witnessed via foreign conspiracy, questions former minister

ISLAMABAD:

Former human rights minister and senior Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Dr Shireen Mazari raised questions about the role of ‘neutrals’ during what she called the conspiracy to topple Imran Khan’s government last month.

In remakes that echoed PTI Chairman Imran Khan’s address to a public rally in Attock on Thursday as well as in Mardan on Friday, Mazari, while speaking at a press conference, alleged that “everyone knows that the neutrals were not actually neutral”.

"I ask this question again to the ‘neutrals’ [a term that refers to the establishment] that your neutrality has come under question. Did you think through it when you supported the conspiracy,” she questioned.

Mazari also asked the establishment did it think about the effects the ‘conspiracy’ would have on the economy before supporting it. "Did you think about the economic downfall, lawlessness and destruction of democracy...?”

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The former minister claimed that a group of “thieves and crime minister” who are now in power had an agenda to quash all cases against them. During the no-confidence motion, she alleged that one of her party’s dissident lawmaker was living in a rest house belonging to ‘the neutrals’.

Mazari explained that the so-called US conspiracy had begun when Imran refused to give military bases to the US. She added that Imran's visit to Russia was the final nail in the coffin [for the PTI government].

She also called out the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), saying several PTI lawmakers defected to other parties in clear violation of the Constitution but "the ECP is silent on it". She demanded the resignation of the chief election commissioner (CEC).

She claimed that enforced disappearances of Baloch students was increasing since the PTI government was toppled. She slammed former law minister Farogh Naseem for allegedly blocking the passage of legislation on missing persons.

Imran Khan and Shireen Mazari's statements have come a day after DG ISPR Major General Babar Iftikhar urged politicians not to drag the military into politics.

The former federal minister said that there are many other things that she doesn't want to mention but everyone knows that neutrals were not actually neutral when the ‘conspiracy’ against the country was being hatched.

Also read: Had warned 'neutrals' PTI ouster would result in economic 'tailspin': Imran

Earlier in the day, Imran Khan took the federal government to task over the country's worsening economic condition, saying he had warned 'neutrals' – a reference to the establishment – that the economy would go into a 'tailspin' if the "conspiracy" against his government succeeded.

The remarks by the former prime minister, who was ousted from power through a no-confidence motion by the joint opposition, came on the heels of the historic depreciation of the Pakistani rupee against the US dollar and the bloodbath at the stock market over the past few days. The rupee has touched Rs193 against the US greenback whereas the bears ruled the stock market amid economic uncertainty.

(WITH INPUT FROM NEWS DESK)