WEB DESK
Coalition government mouthpieces on Friday asked PTI chairman Imran Khan to name the “neutrals” who gave him guarantees over Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja’s appointment.
“We demand that you tell us the names of those neutrals,” PML-N’s Malik Ahmed Khan said in a press conference in Islamabad.
He had said that according to the 18th Amendment, heads of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), ECP and caretaker governments were supposed to be decided amicably by all the political parties.
“At the time of CEC’s appointment, there was a deadlock [among the parties]. So, the neutrals approached us and said that the country needed to move forward.
“They suggested Sikandar Sultan’s name. I didn’t even know him [back then]. But people told us that he was PML-N’s man,” Imran had said, adding that when he told the neutral about this, they guaranteed that the CEC would stay neutral.
Separately, talking to media persons in Karachi, PPP provincial minister Saeed Ghani put forward a similar question. He said that Imran himself appointed the election commissioner and then blamed the “neutrals” for it.
“Who from the neutrals said it? Tell us the name,” he asked. “It will be more fun when he says the name — just ask him.
“Neutrals aren’t just a thing. There must be some people who he [Imran] said passed instructions or pressurised or suggested the [CEC’s] name […] tell us their names. Who said this to you?”
Ghani then reiterated that Imran would not reveal the names of the “neutrals”, adding that Imran called others “boot polisher” but himself admitted that the “neutrals” influenced his government’s decisions.
The leader further claimed that the Election Commission of Pakistan’s verdict in the PTI prohibited funding case had confirmed that Imran was “backed by people” whose interests were against the country’s.
They added that the statements Imran was making these days were just an attempt to “escape from the law”.
