Sethi involved in 70 punctures, not just 35: Imran

PTI chief says his party will accept the judicial commission’s verdict to strengthen democracy

Days after Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan termed the party's '35 punctures' allegation against Najam Sethi as just 'political talk', the PTI chief has said the former caretaker Punjab CM had a much larger role in rigging.

“We did not contest [35 punctures allegation] it in judicial commission because our captain of the team, Abdul Hafeez Peerzada said there were 70 and not just 35 punctures,” said the PTI chief while speaking to media in Karachi.

Imran argued that those who informed him of '35 punctures’, i.e. Murtaza Poya and Dr Ijaz in London, had not backed out of their claims.

Read: Baseless allegations

The PTI chairman was of the view that Sethi had himself accepted that in the last ten days of him being the caretaker CM, orders were being taken from Nawaz and Shahbaz Sharif directly.

“What use do the caretaker governments have if orders were being taken from elsewhere,” said Imran.

He reiterated his stance that Sethi was ‘rewarded’ for his role in alleged rigging in 2013 general elections, referring to Sethi being made the Pakistan Cricket Board chairman twice and his niece being made an MPA of the Punjab Assembly on a reserved seat. Sethi was also given a tax write-off worth Rs15 million, Imran added.

Read: PTI apologises for Imran Khan’s oft-quoted ‘35 punctures’ stance

While repeating his earlier rhetoric that 2013 polls were massively rigged by ROs through a plan, Imran said he and his party would accept the commission’s verdict to strengthen democracy.

When asked to comment on the performance of the Sindh government, the PTI chief said all earlier records of corruption had been broken.