Asad Umar, a senior PTI leader, blamed the PML-N-led unity government on Wednesday of trying to sow division between both the PTI and the army, a move he claimed was doomed to fail.
Umar claimed that lawsuits were being brought against his party in a way that implied it was “a challenge to Pakistan” while speaking at a press conference in Lahore.
He continued, saying that Imran’s political opponents saw him as a challenge to the “entire old system,” as well as “foreign forces, who seem to have a tendency of dictating Pakistan.”
The PTI leader characterised the people’s decision to take to the streets and reject foreign meddling when they saw Imran as his “hope” as a historic turnabout.
Umar claimed that a Twitter account with only 50 followers tweeted a “condemnable” remark that was “played up other accounts with massive following solely to give fuel to the flames.”
He claimed that until recently, members of the top echelons of the ruling coalition, such as Nawaz Sharif, Maryam Nawaz, Asif Ali Zardari, and Maulana Fazlur Rehman, had been critical of the army. He inquired if any action had been taken against them.
After losing the government, he said Imran had even stressed the importance of having a powerful army. “Our chairman has explicitly stated that Imran Khan is not as needed in Pakistan as the army is.”
In the judgement on the Panama Papers case issued on July 28, 2017, the grounds for the ineligibility of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif from holding public office were based on Article 62(1)(f), which establishes the prerequisite for a lawmaker to be “sadiq and ameen” (honest and righteous).
