An overseas Pakistani could land in the country during the formation of the caretaker setup similar to Moeenuddin Ahmad Qureshi, who was brought from abroad in 1993, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said on Monday.

“Several such people are sitting abroad, just like when a twelfth man waits for someone to be injured in the field,” he said on Aaj News show Faisla Aap Ka. “They spend three months in the country on rent after getting imported and then leave Pakistan.”

He also criticised the courts, alleging that the higher judiciary has not learnt from their past mistakes.

“The state of judiciary deteriorated faster than other institutions,” he said. Asif viewed the decision to disqualify Nawaz Sharif as “a big tragedy”, saying the former prime minister was disqualified despite the fact that there was “no charge of corruption” against him.

Asif claimed that he was also informed about his disqualification before a decision was given. “Those who gave the verdict told me that a colonel from Faisalabad has brought a message to disqualify him [Asif],” he stated.

The defence minister praised disgruntled PTI leader Pervez Khattak for being a “balanced politician”.

“In my interaction with him [Khattak], I found him a man with balanced views and stressed for a dialogue. My experience with him was good compared with PTI Chairman Imran Khan and other leaders who were stubborn and bad-mouth people,” he added.

He believed that the PTI has been “finished” within a year in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa despite ruling the province for 10 years. “The disintegration process of the PTI will accelerate in the coming weeks, which will clear the misunderstanding of the PTI chairman,” he added.

Asif claimed that elections would be held on time within 90 days after the dissolution of the assemblies. But he said that several parties from different provinces have raised objections to the census results.

A party objected to the census in Balochistan, while the population of Lahore has also been reduced. “Such things harm the country’s unity. It was done in East Pakistan as well where the population of that part of Pakistan was shown low.”