Imran Khan's party to boycott investigation of 'foreign conspiracy' letter

Former Prime Minister Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Tuesday announced that it will boycott any meeting of the Parliamentary Committee on National Security, which may look into the cable that allegedly revealed a conspiracy to topple their government, and demanded the country's Supreme Court constitute an inquiry commission on the matter.

The decision was made following a meeting of the political committee of PTI which also called for general elections at the earliest and announced a number of rallies in a bid to mobilize the support base of the party, Dawn reported.

The meeting was chaired by PTI chairman Imran Khan and attended by all provincial presidents of the party, Secretary-General Asad Umer, Vice Chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi, and other leaders, including Fawad Chaudhry and Pervaiz Khattak, the report said.

Shortly after being elected as Pakistan's Prime Minister, Shehbaz Sharif on Monday in his inaugural speech at the National Assembly had announced a parliamentary probe into the "foreign conspiracy" to topple Imran Khan's government and offered to resign if there is a shred of evidence to prove the allegation.

Dr Farrukh Habib, a party functionary also claimed that a "surprise move" will be announced at a PTI rally next week in Lahore.

"On April 16, another rally will be held in a ground adjacent to Mazar-i-Quaid in Karachi and yet another on the 23rd at Minar-i-Pakistan in Lahore. In these rallies, we will stress that the imported government is not acceptable, while a surprise move will be announced during the public meeting in Lahore," Habib said.

"We are going to make a bigger move than what happened on Sunday (the deputy speaker's ruling). We have already resigned from the assembly and now the nation should get the opportunity to elect its representatives," he further said.

Talking about the parliamentary probe announced by Prime Minister Sharif, Habib alleged that Shehbaz Sharif was part of the conspiracy and hence, did not turn up when invited for a briefing by the previous Imran Khan government.

"It is a fact that in Pakistan, governments are toppled with up to Rs 20 billion. We have decided to contact the masses as it is necessary to hold general elections for economic stability in the country. The election commission should ensure fulfillment of its constitutional obligations," Habib said.

He further reiterated his party's stance that it was clearly mentioned in the letter sent by Islamabad's ambassador to the US that Pakistan will face consequences if the opposition's no-confidence motion failed, and that is why the National Security Committee termed it interference in Pakistan's internal matters.

He went on to make corruption allegations against the newly sworn-in Prime Minister saying that a hefty amount was allegedly transferred to the account of his employee.

He also alleged that before becoming the PM, Sharif replaced the prosecutor and director of the Federal Investigation Agency, but no one bothered to take suo moto notice nor did the courts open late at night.

Shehbaz Sharif, President of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and former leader of the Opposition, was elected the 23rd Prime Minister of Pakistan by the National Assembly of the country on Monday, a couple of days after former PM Imran Khan's government was voted out of power in a no-confidence motion following a series of dramatic political events.