Estranged PTI leader Sardar Yar Mohammad Rind on Saturday said party chairman and former prime Imran Khan’s “chapter has been closed” and he might not be able to continue to do parliamentary politics in the future.
Rind — who also served an aide to Imran while he was the prime minister — expressed these views during an interview with DawnNewsTV.
Elaborating on his views, he said it was not so that he no longer saw Imran continuing politics just because the PTI was in the opposition now. “But the establishment in this country is not very tolerant,” he said, apparently alluding to Imran’s criticism of the military establishment.
“We are very mild and weak and they (establishment) don’t even like us. So given Khan sahib’s attitude, how can they like him,” the PTI leader remarked.
Asked whether he believed Imran would be disqualified, Rind replied, “I believe so.”
‘Establishment brought Imran to power’
Without naming the institution, Rind also alleged that the establishment had a role in bringing Imran to power in 2018.
“That means it’s true that the RTS (Result Transmission System) was used in the 2018 elections to make Khan sahib win and he had the support of [former army chief] Gen Bajwa?” the DawnNewsTV correspondent asked.
To that, Rind emphatically replied, “There is no doubt about it […] All of it was organised and in 2018, the deserving ones did not get the mandate.”
In reply to another question, he claimed that when Imran was the prime minister, all decisions were taken by the PTI chief and “establishment”, and there was “no involvement of political people” in the decision making.
The PTI leader also claimed that in the 2018 polls, the Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) won in Balochistan as a result of a “deal”.
“Some powers decided to bring the BAP to power and make Jam Kamal the chief minister. It was pre-decided. And I was a hindrance in the completion of this plan,” he said, claiming that he was on his way to becoming the chief minister when another estranged PTI leader Jahangir Khan Tareen called him.
“He asked me to withdraw in favour of Jam sahib […] He told me Imran needed six votes of the BAP to become the prime minister and if I stuck to my stance of not withdrawing, he would not become the premier.
“So I agreed and made this sacrifice,” he claimed.
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