Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb Thursday said the government will constitute a commission to investigate the alleged foreign conspiracy that led to the ouster of PTI Chairman Imran Khan from power.
Talking about the commission, she said the commission will be unbiased and will conduct an independent investigation.
“The head of the commission will be someone on whom no one will be able to point fingers at,” she added. Aurangzeb said the cabinet will approve the terms of reference (TOR) of the inquiry commission in the next cabinet meeting. She further said everything will be cleared once the report comes which will also be shown to the nation.
Predicting the post-inquiry scenario, Aurangzeb said anyone who leveled such allegations “will be dealt with as per the law” in light of the decision made by the inquiry commission. She reiterated that the probe report would be brought before the public.
“This drama should now end.”
The minister said the terms of reference (ToRs) of the inquiry commission would be placed before the cabinet for approval in its next meeting. Calling the alleged foreign conspiracy a lie, Aurangzeb said this was to save former PM’s wife Bushra Bibi’s close aide Farah Khan. “This is Gogi bachao tehreek (save Gogi movement),” she added, says a news report.
Marriyum berated the PTI-led government and called its leaders “economic terrorists”, saying that they looted the country for four years. “The ruined the economy; unemployment and high inflation are the results of Imran Khan’s corruption,” she added.
Appreciating the incumbent government’s efforts, Aurangzeb said Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif gave relief to the people in just two weeks who had been facing high inflation for four years.
The PML-N leader said that the government is doing business partnerships with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for the development of Pakistan.
“We are cleaning the filth left behind by Imran Khan,” added Aurangzeb. She accused the PTI chief and former premier of attempting to divert public attention from the alleged corruption of Farah Khan – a close friend of Imran’s wife Bushra Bibi. The minister lambasted Imran, saying the PTI-led government facilitated opening of around 34 bank accounts between 2018 and 2022, most of them in the name of Farah. “Rs 870.4 million were transferred into those accounts during the period.”
The PML-N leader went on to say the PTI government “sold” Pakistan’s foreign policy and invited the wrath of “friendly countries”.
She said Imran would not accept the inquiry commission but “its findings will be accepted by the parliament and people of Pakistan.”
The controversy surrounding the no-confidence motion against the former premier Imran Khan took a dramatic turn when the embattled PM brandished a letter at a rally on March 27 – days before his ouster – claiming it contained evidence of a “foreign conspiracy” hatched to topple his government.
Imran had kept mum about the contents of the letter when he first unveiled it but he spilled the beans days later by naming the United States when the exit of his government appeared imminent.
Imran’s allegation that the US spearheaded his exit from power was based on a cable received from Pakistan’s Ambassador to the US, Asad Majeed, in which the envoy had reported about a meeting with Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Affairs Donald Lu.
Majeed had reportedly said that Donald Lu warned that Imran Khan’s continuation in office, who was set to face a vote of no confidence, would have repercussions on bilateral relations. The US was said to be annoyed with Imran over his “independent foreign policy” and visit to Moscow.
The Pentagon and the State Department have repeatedly rejected the accusations, saying there was no veracity to it.
The National Security Committee (NSC), which includes all services chiefs as well as the head of Pakistan’s top intelligence agency, took up the matter on March 31 with then premier Imran Khan in the chair. The forum decided to issue a “strong demarche” to a country that it did not name over what it termed as “blatant interference in the internal affairs of Pakistan”.
It had also termed the interference “unacceptable under any circumstances” and said the language used in the communique was undiplomatic.
While the forum had stopped short of calling the interference a conspiracy at the time, another meeting of the NSC was held on April 22 with newly elected premier Shehbaz Sharif in the chair, and which included the same military chiefs who attended the March 31 session.
During its second meeting, the NSC statement said it “reaffirmed the decisions of the last NSC meeting” and explicitly went on to add that it found no evidence of a foreign conspiracy.
