– Says Let them do what they want, Khan says on Army Chief’s appointment directing Sharifs
-PTI Chief announces legal battle over gift sale allegation
-Says will approach international Courts against Umar Zahoor, Jang Group over baseless charges
-Fawad says gifted Watch ‘legally sold’
From Abid Usman
LAHORE: PTI Chairman Imran Khan Wednesday said that his party is sitting back and watching, as the government decides to appoint the next Army Chief.
He took a dig at the PML-N Supremo Nawaz Sharif alleging that the Former Prime Minister wants to appoint someone to ensure his protection. “Let them do what they want. Nawaz Sharif wants to appoint an army chief who will protect his interests. No army chief will go against the nation’s interests,” the PTI chief said commenting on the matter.
Speaking about the alleged cipher and his claims regarding the United States’ involvement in his ouster in April following a no-confidence motion, Khan said that his statement in relation to the US was wrongly presented.
“I spoke about prioritising national interest over my own. America toppled my government, but good relations will be maintained with them due to national interest,” the former premier said in meeting with journalists.
Revealing about receiving an invitation to conduct negotiations, the PTI chairman said: “Message of negotiations is being sent to us, but we responded seeking an election date. Free and fair election has the solution to all the crises.”
Khan, when speaking about PTI’s long march, said that the ‘Haqeeqi Azadi’ movement is showing its effects. “The nation’s awareness and movement stands
strongly against the imported government. Attempts to bend the nation through oppression, fascism, and by violation constitutional rights are failing,” Khan said adding that the attempts to kill him and clear the way through bloodshed in the long march also fell flat.
The PTI chairman also reiterated his stance on the need for rule of law in the country to ensure progress. “Rule of law ensures an independent nation, which take the country toward progress,” Khan said during the meeting.
On Toshakhana saga, Imran said that he would approach Courts against Geo/Jang Group in London and Dubai-based businessman Umar Farooq Zahoor in the Gulf State for his “character assassination”, saying that he had no hope in Pakistan’s justice system.
Tuesday, Zahoor appeared on Geo News’s talk show Aaj Shahzeb Khanzada Ke Sath claimed the PTI government had sold an expensive Graff wristwatch — gifted to Imran by Saudi Crown Prince Moham¬med Bin Salman — for $2 million, worth approximately Rs280m at the time of sale in 2019.
The Toshakhana case over the sale of state gifts received by Imran became a major sticking point in national politics after the Election Commission of Pakistan disqualified the PTI chief for making “false statements and incorrect declaration”.
After months of evading the topic, Imran admitted in a written reply on Sept 8 that he had sold at least four presents — including a Graff wristwatch — he had received during his tenure as the prime minister.
The matter again shot into the spotlight Tuesday night as Zahoor claimed in the Geo News programme that he had bought the watch through former accoun¬ta-bility minister Shahzad Akbar and Farah Khan, a close aide of Imran’s wife Bushra Bibi.
The Dubai-based businessman also claimed that Farah wanted to sell the watch for $4-5m “but after negotiations, I purchased it for $2 million”. The payment, he added, was made in cash on Farah’s insistence. The claims evoked an outcry from PTI leaders, including Akbar who denied Zahoor’s allegations.
Speaking on the matter in a video address yesterday, Imran alleged that the PML-N, Jang Group and Geo were in cahoots in conspiring and starting campaigns against him such as the foreign funding and Toshakhana references.
“Yesterday, this combination of the PML-N and Geo brought a “fraud” whose prior history was quickly exposed by social media,” Imran said. “They brought that fraud and did a whole programme where he said Imran Khan’s watch was sold at such a high price and they did a whole propaganda campaign [against me].”
Imran said he did not have any hope of justice from Pakistan’s legal system and had therefore decided to file a case in London against Geo Group and it would be made to answer for his character assassination.
“I will pursue a case against this person, this fraud, in Dubai, and I will file a case against Geo in Dubai and Pakistan. I have decided that now we will take them to court because we will prove that Geo Group’s method in the country is propaganda — its purpose is not freedom of journalism but it uses its media group for an agenda.
“This person they used and the programme they did if they did journalism with integrity then they’d have known he was a fraud he has no credibility and they wouldn’t have ever used such a witness,” the PTI chief said.
Imran also said that he had prior experience with the UK courts and that is why he would be pursuing a case there. Imran had first announced his move to pursue legal proceedings and denied the programme’s allegations earlier in the day.
“Geo and Khanzada, supported by ‘handlers’, slandered me through a baseless story cooked up by a known fraudster and internationally wanted criminal,” he tweeted. “I have spoken to my lawyers and I plan to sue Geo, Khanzada and the fraudster not only in Pak but also in UK and UAE.”
In a press conference earlier in the day, PTI leader Fawad Chaudhry also denied the allegations. However, he acknowledged that the gift was “legally” sold “in the market”. He began the media talk by sharing details about the Graff wristwatch in question.
Elaborating on the procedure for receiving state gifts, he said the Saudi king gifted the watch during Imran’s trip to Saudi Arabia in 2018 when the PTI chief was the prime minister. Following due procedure, the watch was deposited in the Toshakhana department and its price was valued at approximately RS100m, Fawad added.
At the time, he recalled, public office holders could pay 20pc of the evaluated price of a gift and retain it. “Imran Khan paid 20pc of the evaluated price and it became his personal property,” Fawad contended, revealing that the watch was later “sold in the market for approximately Rs57m.
“Capital gains tax was paid for it accordingly and it was declared in Imran Khan’s returns as well as before the election commission.”
The watch, he asserted, was “never sold to anyone named Umar Zahoor. “Neither was it ever handed over to Farah Gujjar for selling and Ahsan Saleem Gujjar, who is Farah’s husband, clearly said [last] night that she never met him (Zahoor).”
In this connection, Fawad also highlighted Zahoor’s “very shady history”. Zahoor is said to be an influential business personality and is apparently wanted by Norway, Switzerland, Turkiye and Pakistan since 2009-10 over various financial and other crimes.
The businessman also stands accused of taking his minor daughters abroad illegally after obtaining their passports under fictitious names and parentage, even though the Lahore High Court had already ordered that his name be placed on the Exit Control List.
Building his case on the basis of this information, Fawad alleged that Zahoor had named Akbar because the former accountability minister wanted his return to Pakistan.
But soon after the government changed, a first information report was registered against Akbar and late Federal Investigation Agency director Mohammad Rizwan at Islamabad’s Kohsar police station, he said. “Later, Zahoor’s name was removed from the ECL (Exit Control List) and a month after that, he holds this press conference.”
Responding to Imran’s tweet earlier in the day, PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz demanded that he should “produce receipts”.
Meanwhile, Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb challenged the PTI chief to go to court and called on him to tell the date when he would go instead of making announcements.
She also raised several questions about the giftset and said Imran would have to pay receipts for the sales. Aurangzeb further questioned what Khanzada and Geo were to blame for.
Separately, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif welcomed Imran’s move to approach the court over the matter and said the development would bring the record of the matter to light, including the individuals involved in the affair.
He said those involved in the sale of the gifts should be present in Pakistan and made to answer the details of the exchanges. “The government will pursue this matter,” Asif added.
