- Pakistani diaspora thwarts PTI’s call to boycott remittances: Iqbal.
- The minister emphasizes political stability to attract investments.
- He says the government cannot release the PTI founder from jail.
Accusing the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) of becoming an “instrument of anti-state lobbies”, Federal Minister for Planning Ahsan Iqbal on Friday said the main opposition party was demanding the release of its founder Imran Khan via a decree and an NRO type Agreement, as part of ongoing negotiations with the government.
“The keys to a nuclear state have been given to a person who does not even have the experience to head a union council,” Iqbal said, apparently referring to allegations that Imran Khan came to power through a backdoor in 2018, during a press conference in Karachi.
He blamed the former ruling party for plunging the country into a quagmire due to its “mismanagement and incompetence.”
The federal minister also praised Pakistan’s remittances which reached $3.1 billion in December, an increase of 29.3 per cent year-on-year. He called the rise a failure of PTI’s appeals to overseas Pakistanis to boycott remittances.
Last month, imprisoned PTI founder Khan called on his supporters to launch the anti-government movement by initially withholding remittances. Amid this announcement, the PTI and the government kicked off negotiations, with two rounds of talks so far.
The federal minister, in his statement today, stressed that political stability was crucial in attracting foreign investments to the country. Responding to calls from PTI leaders to press Khan’s case in international forums, Iqbal said the opposition party had become an “instrument of anti-state lobbies”.
“We have never aired our grievances over fabricated cases before the United States,” he added, referring to cases filed against current leaders of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML -N) in power, during the era of former Prime Minister Khan.
Earlier in the day, Aleema Khan, the sister of the incarcerated Khan, threatened to knock on the doors of all international institutions in connection with the dozens of cases filed against the PTI founder.
He also termed the PTI’s demand for Khan’s release through an “NRO” order – a term derived from former military ruler General Pervez Musharraf’s National Reconciliation Order in 2007 aimed at granting amnesty for politicians, political workers and bureaucrats accused of corruption, money laundering, murder and terrorism.
The senior PML-N leader said the federal government cannot release the PTI founder from prison, reiterating the Treasury’s stance that the former prime minister, who is facing a plethora of cases, should seek his release. release from the courts.
The war of words continues between the government and the opposition, although both sides have entered into a negotiation process after months of political tug-of-war.
The two parties held two negotiation sessions on December 27, 2024 and January 2, 2025.
In the last meeting between the government and the PTI negotiating committees, both sides had decided that the party founded by Khan would present its charter of demands in the next session, after meeting the jailed prime minister. Further, it was decided that the third round of talks would be convened after the PTI committee met Khan.