Interior minister says Imran will have to appear before court otherwise he will be produced by police n Imran jumped into neighbour’s house from Zaman Park residence to avoid arrest n Endorses Fazl’s stance of delaying elections due to security issues. ISLAMABAD - Federal Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah Monday said straightforwardly that the general elections would be held after the completion of ‘Digital Census’ in the country. The Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) is responsible to organise the elections in a transparent manner, he said while talking to a private television channel. He said the process of "Digital Census" is underway so that the next elections could be made error-free. Replying to a question about the exact date for elections, he said after completion of Census, it is up to the CEC to hold elections in 90-days.
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About delimitation, he said that delimitation is imperative to satisfy all the stakeholders. To a question about preparation of elections, he said, we have directed party workers to launch the campaign. A day after Islamabad Police returned to the federal capital without arresting Chairman Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Imran Khan from Lahore, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah Khan on Monday stressed that the former prime minister would have to appear before courts to answer charges of corruption against him. “Imran Khan would have to appear before the court (in the Toshakhana case against him), otherwise the government will (forcefully) produce him before it,” he said while addressing a news conference here. At the same time, he reiterated his stance that the police had no plan or desire to arrest him rather it wanted to implement the order of the court, which had issued non-bailable arrest warrants of the PTI chief in the Toshakhana case.
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“If the police were to arrest him (Khan), then it was not an appropriate strategy,” Rana Sanaullah said. He suggested that Khan should voluntarily surrender himself before court or he should have at least ensured the police of his appearance before it. He deplored that PTI had made it a practice to “dramatize” everything. He went on to say that when the government desired to arrest him, the same would be done in no time. The minister said that the PTI played a high drama when Islamabad Police reached Zaman Park residence of the PTI chairman in Lahore to implement the court order. He chided Khan by saying that he escaped to a neighbour’s house to avoid arrest. “Some people say that he [Khan] jumped into his neighbour’s house to hide and police were told that he was not home,” he said. After a while, he surfaced from somewhere and delivered a speech to his followers, he added.
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Speaking on the demand of Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) president Maulana Fazlur Rehman about postponement of elections in two provinces due to the prevailing economic crisis and fragile security situation, Rana Sanaulalh said that his opinion carries weight. “PDM is going to hold its meeting to have its consultations over this view and the moot will take a decision on it,” he said, adding that the cabinet can give its opinion on this. He endorsed that the security situation in Balochsitan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was scary and it was impossible to carry on with the election campaign in the given circumstances. He at the same time underlined that it was the Election Commission of Pakistan that had to take the decision of holding the election and not the government. The interior minister alleged that Khan, while in the office of prime minister, had got transferred the land worth Rs 5 billion to Al-Qadir Trust in exchange for inflicting a loss of worth Rs50 billion to the national kitty. He said that Farhat Shahzadi alias Farah Gogi was also an accused in the Al-Qadir Trust scandal as 250-kanal land was transferred in her name. He said that the Farah Gogi had access to the Prime Minister’s House as a family member of then prime minister Khan. He said that at a time when Khan and his party had been levelling charges of money laundering against the political opponents, Gogi was allegedly transferring billions of rupees abroad. He said that the government had exact details with dates of these financial transactions. “Khan would have to give an answer to these allegations before the court,” he said. He again said that the government had no desire to arrest him but he would have to appear before the court.
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The interior minister admitted that the government could not stop dollar smuggling from Pakistan into Afghanistan through the Pak-Afghan border. Dollars are being smuggled to the neighbouring country by stuffing them into sacks, he added.