Mohsin Naqvi involved in regime change conspiracy: Imran Khan

LAHORE: Former prime minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Imran Khan has rejected the appointment of Mohsin Naqvi as the caretaker Punjab chief minister (CM) and alleged that Naqvi had a big role in the ‘regime change conspiracy’ against his government, ARY News reported on Monday.

Imran Khan conducted a press conference after Mohsin Naqvi was nominated and appointed as the caretaker Punjab CM following the decision of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) yesterday.

He announced to approach the court against Naqvi’s appointment and nationwide protests.

Khan said that a caretaker set-up was established to hold fair and free elections and PTI recommended appropriate names for the non-partisan slot of the caretaker Punjab CM.

READ: MOHSIN NAQVI TAKES OATH AS CARETAKER PUNJAB CM

“We selected Nasir Khosa who served as the principal secretary of Nawaz Sharif, whereas, Ahmed Nawaz Sukhera is the cabinet secretary. We thought that no one will raise any objections over Sukhera’s name. Naveed Akram Cheema had also served as the chief secretary of Nawaz Sharif. All of them were rejected and Naqvi was nominated for the post.”

“In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI) recommended Azam Khan for the caretaker CM’s slot and we did not raise any objections over his name. I have never seen such a dishonest election commission in my life.”

Khan criticised that the current election commission always gives decisions against the PTI and its decision was always overturned by the courts. The courts had rejected the ECP’s decisions eight to nine times, he added.

“The ECP had included an irrelevant paragraph in its verdict in the prohibited funding case. The case is currently under proceeding. The incumbent government publicised the Toshakhana details related to me but it did not provide the same details to the court regarding the current rulers.”

READ: ECP NAMES MOHSIN NAQVI AS CARETAKER PUNJAB CM

“We had received IB [Intelligence Bureau] reports regarding the regime change conspiracy. Mohsin Naqvi was present on top of the list of the persons who made maximum efforts to topple the PTI government. Naqvi conveyed Asif Ali Zardari’s messages to Nawaz Sharif.”

“Asif Ali Zardari called Naqvi like his son then everybody should know about his character. Naqvi had also held meetings with the former army chief who was the mastermind.”

“Everybody knows well about [General Retired] Qamar Javed Bajwa who gave NRO-2 to them. Naqvi was the one who returned the looted public money to the NAB [National Accountability Bureau] through a plea bargain.”

Imran Khan termed Mohsin Naqvi the biggest enemy of PTI and alleged that the caretaker Punjab CM owned a TV channel which runs the worst propaganda against the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf.

He further alleged that Naqvi is backed by those powerful individuals who created Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and later created MQM Haqiqi.

He expressed suspicions that Naqvi will approve deputations of anti-PTI officials during the upcoming elections. “They will make maximum efforts to delay the Punjab polls. ECP is already in nexus with them and now they will get more people in their loop.”

Khan said that the current rulers will try to disqualify him and start arresting PTI workers in fake cases. He alleged that the incumbent government wants to hold controlled elections in Punjab just like they did it in Karachi.

Imran Khan said that PTI dissolved two provincial assemblies of Punjab and KP covering 60% mandate of the country in a bid to hold general elections. He added that elections are the only solution to all national issues, especially the severe economic crisis.

He said that the governor is bound to give the election date within 48 hours after the assembly’s dissolution but the governors of Punjab and KP have not yet unveiled the schedule.

He said that every Pakistani will have to exercise the constitutional right to protest against the disastrous steps of the incumbent government to save the country.

He announced that PTI will begin nationwide protests from Lahore tomorrow. On Wednesday, PTI will stage a protest in Rawalpindi. “We will stage protests on a daily basis in all cities of the country.