Prime Minister Imran Khan had claimed in April 2018 that he had a video of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa lawmakers taking money ahead of the Senate election to vote against the party lines, but the video was released after a period of more than two years, only a day ahead of the Supreme Court hearing over the issue.
The PM had said that he had proof of people selling their votes for money and he could show them the video where they were seen “counting money”.
But if the PM had the video and knew about the people involved in horse-trading then what took the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) so long to release it and that too a day before the court hearing, Shahzeb Khanzada asked the federal minister for information on his show.
As per Khanzada, another question that the video poses is the KP law minister, Mahmood Sultan, who stepped down from the post after the video emerged? If the PM had seen the video, as he has claimed multiple times in past, then why was Sultan made the minister in the KP cabinet? And if he didn’t know about it then why did he claim otherwise.
Information Minister Shibli Faraz said that the PM hadn’t seen the video, but he did know that something like that existed. “He was only aware of its existence,” he said, adding that the PM took the decision to sack the minister involved right away and this should be praised.
Speaking during the show, Faraz asserted that the PM hadn’t watched the video, but trusted his “strong sources”. Shibli said that the government was trying to end the menace of corruption during the Senate polls and the media should support its cause.
‘LEAKED VIDEO’:
On Tuesday, the video first released by ARY News showed lawmakers belonging to the now ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) counting bundles of cash and then stashing the same in a bag.
The video showed how, during the critical period, loyalties were switched by PTI’s 20 Khyber Pakhtunkhwa lawmakers, all of whom were reportedly expelled by the party’s central leadership after an investigation. The money was dished out in Feb-March 2018, it was reported.
It may be noted that the damning video comes at a time when Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan expresses aims to hold Senate elections through open ballot in 2021 in a bid to eliminate horse-trading. Defending his party’s move to hold the elections through open ballot, the premier had last week spoken of bribes paid to buy loyalties, revealing that he himself had been offered some.
He had further revealed that 20 members of the KP Assembly belonging to the PTI, likely the ones from the video, were paid Rs50 million each during the last Senate polls to vote in favour of certain candidates.
On February 6, President Dr Arif Alvi signed Elections (Amendment) Ordinance 2021 that will pave way for the organisation of Senate elections through open ballot.
