ISLAMABAD: Minister for Information and Broadcasting Marriyum Aurangzeb said Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chief was arrested on corruption charges after he failed to prove his innocence in a court of law.
In an interview with BBC, she said the PTI chief’s arrest has nothing to do with politics or political victimization, the case has gone through due process of law and the court has given him a sentence after he failed to provide any evidence in his defense.
The Minister said everyone who is proven guilty has to be arrested and there is nothing to do with politics. She said political victimization was when during PTI’s rule entire two benches of opposition in the parliament were put behind bars on false charges.
The Minister said there is no question of the timing of the PTI chief’s arrest because no one can be spared of arrest just because elections are down the row.
Marriyum Aurangzeb added that the PTI chief was given ample opportunity to defend himself but he kept on evading the court hearings and did not produce any evidence to refute allegations against him.
She said PTI chief attended only three out of forty court hearings and instead blamed his staff and team for every wrong. Responding to a question, Marriyum Aurangzeb said there is no crackdown against PTI workers instead PTI is a party that unleashed violence against the state institutions and sensitive installations on May 9.
She said national interest must be put above all politics and no one can be allowed to attack sensitive buildings, schools and hospitals and there is clear evidence against PTI chief being the mastermind of all that happened on May 9.
Marriyum Aurangzeb said the PTI chief cannot be compared with Nawaz Sharif who not only presented himself for accountability but attended 150 court hearings and there was not a single attack on sensitive installations, buildings or hospitals and mosques by his workers.
