ISLAMABAD/KARACHI: Federal Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Dr. Tariq Fazal Chaudhry on Tuesday said the only way for Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan to secure his release was through the courts, making it clear that the government had neither struck any deal nor had any intention of granting him leniency.
Talking to the media at Parliament House, the minister said Imran Khan was being provided medical check-up facilities and the government had neither neglected his treatment in the past nor would it show any negligence in future. Commenting on the statement of Imran Khan's lawyer Salman Safdar, the minister said that although he was a lawyer, he appeared to be playing the role of a medical specialist while speaking to the media.
He said Safdar had himself acknowledged that the PTI founder had access to medical check-ups. The minister advised Salman Safdar to focus on legal arguments, saying that doing so could help secure his client's release.
He said Imran Khan had been taken to hospital six times even before the Supreme Court issued directions for his transfer to a hospital. He added that when the need arose in connection with the PTI founder's blood pressure, a doctor had been called from London.
Tariq Fazal said Imran Khan had received treatment according to the medical standards required for his condition. Turning to the political situation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the minister described the PTI's 13-year rule in the province as the worst period of governance, claiming that no meaningful development had taken place and no facilities had been provided to the people during its tenure.
He said emergency would remain in force in the province until the desired objectives were achieved, adding that the government could no longer afford failure in its efforts to restore peace. He maintained that the state and its institutions were fighting a war against terrorism in KP, while PTI had extended no cooperation in these efforts.
The minister said the imposition of emergency and governor's rule in the province was the result of PTI's own political conduct, describing it as a political "suicide attack" by the party against itself. He said the step was taken as a last resort.
He further alleged that the PTI's political tenure had consistently been marked by turmoil and unrest in Pakistan. He claimed that the politics of chaos and confrontation had now come to an end and that KP, along with the rest of the country, was moving towards peace and development.
Meanwhile, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari claimed that the Sindh government had constructed 1 million homes for flood-affected families in 3 years without any corruption, challenging international institutions and monitoring bodies to audit the project and verify the expenditure. Addressing a ceremony at the Chief Minister's House in Karachi marking the completion of 1 million houses under the Sindh Peoples Housing for Flood Affectees (SPHF) programme, Bilawal described the initiative as the largest housing project of its kind in the world, saying the Sindh government had surpassed Nepal's previous record of constructing 700,000 houses.
He said the provincial government intended to take the number of houses to 2 million by the time the project was completed. Bilawal said the achievement reflected cooperation between the federal and provincial governments and support from international partners.