Govt shown yellow card, now wait for red card, says Durrani

LAHORE: Senior politician and former federal information minister Muhammad Ali Durrani on Thursday claimed that the government had already been shown a “yellow card” and should now wait for the “red card”.

In an exclusive interview with ARY News, Durrani commented on the SC order to transfer PTI founder Imran Khan to Shifa Hospital, saying Khan had played a personal role in this settlement.

“This settlement was made by Imran Khan alone. The credit belongs solely to Khan and to those with whom it was negotiated,” Durrani said.

Criticising the government, the former minister said rulers become increasingly unnerved when their grip on the situation weakens, and they feel their authority slipping away.

Durrani alleged that the government had repeatedly blamed state institutions for its own misdeeds and attempted to create the impression – in the name of the hybrid system – that the institutions were responsible for what was happening.

He claimed that the divide between the public and the establishment, which he said had been created by the hybrid government, would now begin to narrow and that the negative perception allegedly cultivated by the rulers would also fade.

He said that whenever relations between the public and state institutions improve, what he described as “hybrid rulers” begin to create controversy, calling such reactions a result of their own political miscalculations.

The former information minister also criticised the ruling elite for what he described as applying different standards to themselves and others, pointing out that rulers had travelled abroad for medical treatment while imposing different standards on others.

“The government’s football team has already been shown the yellow card; now they should wait for the red card,” Durrani said.

PTI founder’s hospital transfer a conspiracy against Nawaz Sharif: Senator Nasir Butt

Earlier, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader and Senator Nasir Mehmood Butt on Tuesday described the Supreme Court’s order to shift Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan to Shifa International Hospital as part of what he called a conspiracy against PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered authorities to immediately shift Imran Khan to Shifa International Hospital for medical treatment.