Pakistan: Arsalan’s allegation can affect Imran Khan’s future

Kamran Khan, host of Geo News programme ‘Aaj Kamran Khan Kay Sath’, said on the programme on Monday that the prestige of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) is at the lowest ebb. The number of terrorist incidents in the country has decreased because of the massive action against the terrorists. Arsalan Iftikhar’s allegation can have serious repercussions on Imran Khan’s future.

Kamran Khan, while commenting on Arsalan Iftikhar’s allegations against Imran Khan, said that the allegation against the chief of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, Imran Khan, has been an old one, but it has once again been levelled forcefully. The allegation is that Imran Khan is the father of a 20-year-old young woman who lives in the USA, and that she was born out of wedlock; that Imran Khan has confessed to being her father, and that a US court has also given its verdict in this regard.

Kamran Khan said that this time round, the allegation has been levelled by Arsalan Iftikhar, the son of Imran Khan’s latest target, former chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry. Kamran Khan said that this is a very serious charge which, if proved, can have some very adverse effects on the future of Imran Khan and the PTI.

Arsalan Iftikhar has filed an application with the Election Commission of Pakistan asking the ECP to provide him with a copy of Imran Khan’s nomination papers on the basis of which he (Arsalan Iftikhar) wants to file a reference under Article 62/63 of the Constitution in which he would take the plea that Imran Khan had mentioned the names of his two sons in the nomination papers, but he did not give the name of, what Arsalan Iftikhar alleges to be, “his daughter who was born out of wedlock”. Therefore, Imran Khan’s membership of the Parliament be suspended and action taken against him.

In a different segment of the programme, Kamran Khan said that what happened in the last 30 days — from the Karachi airport attack to the political hibernation of federal Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar and to his having been persuaded to come out of his hibernation and into the mainstream — has dealt the government’s reputation with a severe blow.

In order to save Pakistan from the terrorists a decisive action is underway, and the Chief of the Army Staff, General Raheel Sharif, is visiting the frontline.

Kamran Khan said that nobody can doubt the fact that the future of the country rests on the Pakistan Army’s Operation Zarb-e-Azb against the terrorists.

The Chief of the Army Staff, General Raheel Sharif, is visiting the frontline where the war for Pakistan’s survival is being fought. This is a very important visit of General Raheel Sharif.He met the officers and Jawans and gave them a pat on the back for a job well done and told them that their next step is to completely destroy all the centres of terrorism in and around North Waziristan.

Kamran Khan said that as a result of the massive operation against terrorism, there has been a substantial decrease in the number of terrorist incidents inside Pakistan.

In a still different segment of the programme, Kamran Khan said that the events of the last one month have badly tarnished the image of the leadership of the PML-N and that of the government as well. Serious differences among the stalwarts of the ruling party have come to light. The media spotlight in this regard has been on the very important leader of the PML-N, Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, about whom media reports have been saying for the last three weeks that he had chosen to isolate himself due to his differences with some fellow cabinet members. Ch Nisar remained absent from Parliament for some time. However, Ch Nisar had a meeting with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Sunday, and on Monday he issued a written statement in which he denied the news about differences, but he did say a few words about those one or two ministers who had a grudge against him.

Kamran Khan said that the writ of the government was affected and especially on June 20 when Pemra decided that it was revoking the ban on Geo News and at the same time it also decided to impose a ban on ARY News, but despite the Pemra decision ARY News transmission continued uninterrupted throughout and even the cable operators turned a deaf ear to the Pemra decision, but, ironically, Geo News and other channels of Geo Network remained shut contrary to Pemra decision. This example clearly shows that the government is losing its writ. Government ministers did not have the courage to get Pemra orders implemented. Geo News remained off air despite government orders to restore its transmission while the channel that was supposed to be off air remained on in contravention of government orders.

Kamran Khan said that the Lahore Model Town incident was a major incident that substantially damaged government’s reputation. The way the police attempted to remove barriers from outside the house of Tahir-ul-Qadri upon his return to the country and the killing of ten people there severely damaged the reputation of the government.