Plays ‘audio clip’ of Gandapur to support his claim; No room for negotiations with anarchists: Marriyum
Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah has claimed that PTI Chairman Imran Khan was planning to kill his workers through armed men, who he said were part of his long march aimed at spreading “anarchy and chaos” in the country.
The interior minister said the armed men were present in the PTI’s long march towards Islamabad and another armed group will join the caravan from Gujrat.
“They [PTI] are going to spread mischief and anarchy and they want to create a national tragedy by killing people,” he said while addressing a press conference in Islamabad on Saturday.
The interior minister, in media interaction, also played an alleged leaked audio clip of PTI leader and former federal minister Ali Amin Gandapur in which the latter was allegedly discussing about bringing “weapons and men” near Islamabad with an unidentified person.
“How many guns are there,” the PTI leader asked the unidentified person in the alleged audio, who responded, “there are many”. Gandapur further asked, “And license? There are too many licenses,” the other person replied.
The unidentified person allegedly told Gandapur in the leaked audio that there will be many men as needed.
“We are camping here in the nearby colony of fellows. On the Islamabad-Rawalpindi border. On the left side after toll plaza. Either it is Top City or Capital,” the former minister can be heard saying.
The unidentified person responded, “The Top is on the airport side, isn’t it? I sent you the whole map.”
“I have the [map]… just keep the men and equipment ready there,” the PTI leader directed the other person. “Sir, no problem,” the person responded.
Referring to the alleged conversation of the PTI leader, Sanaullah said he had asked the police chief to arrest Gandapur, who is in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.
Sanaullah said the PTI chief was also planning to cause clashes between the law enforcement agencies and his workers. “Federal law enforcement agencies are on alert and they will take action against him.”
Speaking about the talks with the PTI, Sanaullah said, “They are collecting guns, how can we hold negotiations with them?”
The interior minister also warned the KP government to immediately arrest Gandapur to avert bloodshed.
Meanwhile, following the emergence of alleged audio leak, the federal government has decided to file a writ petition in the Supreme Court against the PTI’s long march.
Meanwhile, Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb said the next general election would be held on its schedule despite the PTI’s “bullying, threats, abuses and intimidation attempts”.
Addressing a press conference in Islamabad, she said Imran should “do what he wants to do”, adding that the government would remain indifferent to his pressure-deploying tactics. “Imran’s long, short, jump or walk march will make no difference.”
Commenting on a slew of audio recordings leaked in recent days, the minister remarked that they had “badly flopped” Imran’s conspiracy narrative related to his ouster.
