Imran wants CEC to act like ex-NAB chief: Marriyum

Minister rebukes ex-premier for demanding Raja’s resignation

LAHORE:

Minister for Information and Broadcasting Marriyum Aurangzeb on Tuesday said that PTI Chairman Imran Khan wanted Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikander Sultan Raja to “act like that of former NAB chairman Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal” in the wake of pending decision in his party's foreign funding case.

Addressing a news conference in Lahore, she alleged that the former premier had laundered billions of dollars by receiving foreign funding in bank accounts of PTI office-bearers, which had caused losses to the national exchequer.

"Imran Khan tried to reach out the incumbent chief election commissioner through back door channels as he wanted him to play a role like that of the ex-NAB chairman, but Sikandar Sultan Raja will not become another Javed Iqbal at any cost," she maintained.

The minister said that Tayyaba Gul was held hostage at the Prime Minister's House to blackmail the former NAB chairman for victimising the political opponents by filing false cases.

Gul’s case recently resurfaced after she recorded her statement against the former NAB chairman before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) and alleged that NAB officials had stripped her naked, made videos and filed cases when she refused to comply with Iqbal’s “demands”.

Following her statement, PAC Chairman Noor Alam Khan had urged PM Shehbaz Sharif to remove or suspend Iqbal as head of the commission on missing persons.

The former FIA director general was also pressurised to register cases against the then opposition leaders, the minister noted.

Imran, she said, was attacking the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) as it had reserved the decision in the PTI's foreign funding case, which it could announce any time.

She claimed that the PTI chief had a mindset of despotic German dictator Hitler.

It is beyond understanding that he (Imran) has launched a scathing attack against the same CEC, who was appointed by him, she said.

"He (Imran) will take no time to attack the Supreme Court, if it gives a decision against him," she said.