PM Imran Khan to meet pro-Tareen lawmakers today
April 27, 2021
- PM Imran Khan has accepted the request of pro-Tareen lawmakers for a meeting.
- The PTI lawmakers had threatened to quit from the assemblies.
- FM Qureshi has taken a jibe at the dissidents indirectly.
ISLAMABAD: In an important development, Prime Minister Imran Khan will meet the lawmakers supporting Jahangir Khan Tareen amid strong reservations from the senior party leadership on the ongoing tussle within the PTI.
The premier, according to Geo News sources, is scheduled to meet at least 30 PTI lawmakers today.
The party's MPAs and MNAs, who are close to the estranged leader, will present Tareen's case to the prime minister, confirmed the sources.
A consultative meeting will be held before the meeting.
Jahangir and his son Ali have been booked by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) for their alleged involvement in the sugar scam, however, they have denied any wrongdoing. Both of them are on bail till May 3.
Ruling party lawmakers have been appearing at the courts along with Jahangir to show their support.
JIT head removed
Meanwhile, ahead of the PM's meeting with the Tareen group, the government has removed the head of Joint Investigation Team (JIT) of the FIA probing the sugar scam. Director Lahore Mohammad Rizwan, however, will remain a member of the JIT.
Read more: Alleged fraud, money laundering cases registered against Jahangir Tareen, son
According to FIA sources, the investigation team has completed 70% of its work and cases have been filed against major political leaders.
PTI lawmakers threaten to quit
Last week, the PTI lawmakers backing Tareen had refused to hold a meeting with a committee formed to hold talks with them, insisting they wanted the prime minister himself to listen to their reservations.
"Imran Khan is our captain, and we will present our grievances only in front of him," the lawmakers had said, according to sources.
Earlier, the PTI lawmakers had offered to quit the assemblies in support of Tareen, during a meeting held at his Lahore residence.
Sources privy to the meeting informed Geo News that more than 30 members of both the national and provincial assemblies attended the huddle and discussed the roadmap ahead for the party, with a majority of them offering to resign.
Read more: Jahangir Tareen not as close to PTI now, says Sheikh Rashid
According to sources, the offer of resignations was not unanimously agreed upon by all lawmakers as a measure suited for the time being. The lawmakers were, however, of the opinion that if "injustices" against Tareen continued, then the option of resignations from the assemblies must be exercised.
Qureshi targets Tareen group indirectly
Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said while addressing the ground-breaking ceremony of the South Punjab Secretariat at the Circuit House in Multan that the PTI activists must not worry about four MPAs or MNAs going astray.
Without taking any names, the minister said the disgruntled people must take one position and not play both sides against the middle.
Qureshi said the PTI was the only party that had taken steps for political restructuring after the culmination of One Unit and the 1973 Constitution.
"Today is a historic day. It is an honour for the PTI that it has initiated measures for the South Punjab province in the shape of the opening of a secretariat in Multan,” he said.
Qureshi stated that it was devolution of power, and the funds allocated for the region would now be spent here unlike in the past.
He lambasted the PPP and the PMLN, which did nothing for the South Punjab masses. He said Syed Yusuf Gilani, when became the prime minister, could not make the new province.
The foreign minister said the PPP always told the masses that it would create a new province for them in South Punjab, while the PML-N made the people fight on it.
The minister felicitated Prime Minister Imran Khan as he got the honour of taking practical steps for the new province by opening a secretariat for South Punjab. “The critics of PTI should see for themselves that the party had laid the foundation of new province by setting up the secretariat here,” the minister remarked.
