PTI's Buppi dismisses Chinkara case as farcical

Jailed senator claims he is paying the price for his loyalty to Imran

ISLAMABAD:

PTI Senator Aon Abbas Buppi on Saturday claimed that authorities have implicated him in a false case of hunting five Chinkara gazelles, which, he claimed, are non-existent in Pakistan.

"There is not a single Chinkara in Pakistan, yet five such cases have been registered against me," Buppi said while talking to reporters after attending a Senate session. "The case registered against me is entirely based on lies," he added.

The Punjab Wildlife Department registered a case against Buppi and nine others for illegal hunting of Chinkara. The Bahawalpur police later arrested the PTI senator.

Buppi told reporters that he was told that Ejaz Chaudhary would also be brought to the upper house but the order of the Senate chairman was once again ignored.

The senator said during his incarceration he had not endured a fraction of the suffering that Ejaz Chaudhary was enduring. He said it would weigh heavily on his conscience if Chaudhary were in jail and he were in the Federal Lodges.

"I made a principled decision and requested the Senate chairman to cancel my production orders. Senator Ejaz Chaudhry is like a friend, mentor, and a father to me," he added.

He said he requested the Senate chairman to send him to Bahawalpur so that he could face the case.

"At the police station where a charge sheet was filed against me, a case of wheat theft was registered against PTI leader Shahryar Afridi. It is the price of loyalty to [PTI founder] Imran Khan—price that has been paid and will continue to be paid," he concluded.