Collusion claim: Hashmi sees current tussle as a scripted affair

Alleges that Imran Khan has been acting at the behest of ‘others’.

ISLAMABAD:

Barely a day after falling out with Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chief Imran Khan, the party’s defunct president Makhdoom Javed Hashmi claimed that the current tussle between the ruling party and PTI was a “scripted” affair.

“When Imran Khan laid bare the entire plan, I had raised objections, saying we would not get anything out of it,” said Hashmi while making the disclosure at Parliament House.

Addressing the media, Hashmi said: “Everything was happening as per the plan according to which there would be elections in September and for that matter the chairman had asked us (Jahangir Tareen, Shah Mehmood Qureshi and me) to hunt for new members for elections.”

“Imran promised everything, and then broke every promise,” he added.

“I cannot disrespect the court but wanted to let the Supreme Court know as a deal had been sealed [with the judges as per the plan],” he added. “Imran Khan told me that he would get a chief justice, who would be sympathetic to us,” he said.

Talking about the plan, he said: “Imran had told the core committee it would not be called a martial law. We will file a petition in the Supreme Court and get a judge of our choosing, who will say okay. The chief justice will validate the actions that will be taken eventually and this would not be the Bangladesh model.”

When asked to name the SC judge, Hashmi said that the PTI chief had hinted at getting a validation for all the acts from the incumbent chief justice. “Today I have heard that the chief justice has called all judges,” he said, hinting that it was part of the plan.

And while Hashmi remained coy about who was behind the conspiracy, he could not help but allude to the military which, he alleged, was the driving force that kept the PTI and the PAT protest marches together.

“You [Imran Khan] will only move when Qadri moves. Whether it was from Lahore, or when we arrived. Are we their hostages?” Hashmi said angrily. “You were only abiding, because they told you to move [in tandem with Qadri].”

He also made references to the Inter-Services Intelligence chief Lt Gen Zaheerul Islam and several members of his own party without finishing sentences or elaborating on the allegations.

Hashmi claimed that he was still president of the party. ” Khan Sahib, I wish you had read your own party’s constitution,” he said, alluding to Imran’s allegedly unilateral decision to remove him.

On Sunday, Hashmi had claimed that the entire core committee had decided against the move to march towards the PM House; but Imran Khan later vetoed the decision and asked his supporters to march ahead after he received certain ‘instructions’.

Denying Imran Khan’s claim that Javed Hashmi was the only one to oppose his decision to move forward, Hashmi says Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Jehnagir Tareen, Pervaiz Khattak and Dr Arif Alvi also opposed it.

Later, talking to Express News anchor Javed Chaudhry, Hashmi said he was concerned that those among Imran’s inner circle had started talking about military matters. “I don’t have any evidence nor do I think the army is backing Imran,” he said.

“I had advised Imran Khan several times that we must find our own way, and not rely on support from anyone,” he said, adding that he now felt there was an unseen force making the PTI take certain decisions.

PTI’s reaction

Speaking shortly after Javed Hashmi’s allegations, PTI leader Dr Arif Alvi said he was not aware of any script, as suggested by the veteran politician.

“Javed Hashmi was with us on everything till we moved from Constitution Avenue to the PM House,” he said, adding that the decision to join Dr Qadri was made by the party and not at the behest of a third party.

Meanwhile, the PTI’s Central Information Secretary Dr Shireen Mazari said If Hashmi thought PTI was linked to the army then he should have immediately resigned.

“The fact is that there was no such talk in any meeting nor is there any such covert agenda. The chairman had said from day one that if the legal venues of redress failed to give justice to the PTI’s appeals against rigging, then the party would come out on the roads to protest,” she said in a statement.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 2^nd, 2014.