Answering a question that the PTI chairman had himself admitted that the 35 punctures was a political statement, Mr Chaudhry said the PTI expected that the Judicial Commission would perform judicial activity as well as investigate the allegations. However, he said, the Judicial Commission only continued its judicial activity but did not investigate the allegations as well as the available proofs. “So, the 35 punctures remained a political statement,” Mr Chaudhry said.
Imran Khan’s admission and Arif Alvi’s subsequent apology
PTI Chairman Imran Khan also admitted on Wednesday at a television talk show that the remarks made were a political statement.
Arif Alvi said “We should have checked the facts before making such an accusation,” adding “We should not have believed on false accusations.”
It is time to apologise for 35 punctures. Many rumours regarding source of information & content were afloat and I believed some of them
— Dr. Arif Alvi (@ArifAlvi) July 2, 2015
Najam Sethi, the caretaker chief minister of Punjab during May 2013 general elections, who was accused of the wrongdoing by Imran Khan and other PTI leaders with “35 punctures’ has welcomed the apology.
What about all those anchors and commentators who maligned me day and night by accepting or not challenging the 35 penture allegation?
— Najam Sethi (@najamsethi) July 1, 2015
Imran Khan had vehemently criticised Najam Sethi in a statement on May 12, 2014, for his alleged role in so-called manipulation of the 2013 general elections.
The decent thing would be for @ImranKhanPTI to apologise to @najamsethi for casting aspirations, for disregard for facts & for peddling lies
— Babar Sattar (@Babar_Sattar) July 2, 2015
Imran Khan himself punctures the ’35 punctures’ lie, confirms no such evidence exists. Najam Sethi stands vindicated pic.twitter.com/F3n9QgnSSe
— Murtaza Ali Shah (@MurtazaGeoNews) July 1, 2015
He said the caretaker chief minister should not be like the one who mended 35 punctures, repeating his allegations that Sethi had helped the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz to rig the elections by misusing his position as the chief minister of Punjab.
Najam Sethi who was made the chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board, was accused by the PTI chief that the PML-N after coming to power paid back him with appointment on the lucrative PCB office.
Moment of silence for all those people who believed in IK’s 35 penture story against sir @najamsethi pic.twitter.com/4LkIH2bAYZ
— Ammar Jutt (@AmmarJatt) July 1, 2015
Talking to journalists in, PTI leader Jahangir Khan Tareen commented that there were 70 punctures not 35. He also said that what was said on the container in Islamabad during the dharna last year was different from what was given in the court deposition because the latter had proofs given with it.
