LAHORE, Jan 23 (PTI): Pakistan’s ex-premier Imran Khan has said he will challenge in the Supreme Court the appointment of Mohsin Naqvi as the caretaker chief minister of Punjab, describing him an “enemy” of his party and slamming the election commission for reducing the country to a “Banana Republic”.
Naqvi was sworn in as the caretaker chief minister of Punjab on Sunday night, hours after the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) unanimously decided to appoint him to the post.
His appointment came after the ruling party and the opposition in the province failed to reach consensus on a name for the post.
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Naqvi, who was one of the two candidates suggested by ex-Chief Minister Hamza Shehbaz, is the owner of a media house and said to be very close to PPP leader Asif Ali Zardari.
Khan’s party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) calls Naqvi “Zardari’s front man in his corruption.”
“PML-N has history of selecting their own umpires but it’s incredible how ECP has selected a sworn enemy of PTI as caretaker CM Punjab — a post meant for a non-partisan person,” Khan said in a tweet.
The PTI chief posted a picture of Naqvi’s plea bargain to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) requesting that he be allowed to pay Rs 3.5 million as plea bargain in the Haris Steels Mills corruption case.
“Naqvi made a voluntary return deal with the anti-graft watchdog and the Supreme Court had declared in a suo motu case no. 17/2016 that a person responsible for voluntary return could not hold any public office at federal or provincial level nor in any state organisation,” he said.
“ECP has helped reduce Pak to a Banana Republic making our democracy a joke. I will be holding a presser tomorrow to expose this entire farce,” he said on Sunday. Khan said Naqvi has been tasked with delaying the elections in Punjab and to sabotage the PTI.
Mohsin Naqvi has come with a two-point agenda — extend the present set-up’s tenure for a year, and do all that he can to damage the PTI,” Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PMLQ) senior leader Moonis Elahi tweeted.
Former Chief Minister of PTI Chaudhry Parvez Elahi dissolved the Punjab Assembly on January 12 on the wish of Khan to push the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) led federal coalition to call for snap polls.
The PTI also dissolved the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa assembly last week. However, the government and opposition reached a consensus on caretaker chief minister there.
