The PTI was wrong to think that former spymaster General (retd) Faiz Hameed was their “well-wisher” as he distracted leaders, party’s lawmaker Sher Afzal has claimed.
In an interview with Mubasher Lucman, he alleged that the former Inter-Services Intelligence director general distracted the PTI leaders when the party was in power by pretending to be “one of them.”
In the past, rivals of Imran Khan’s party have accused him of getting the support of Gen (retd) Faiz when he was in power. The-then opposition leaders described the PTI as “Faiziab” about how they won Senate elections and ran the government.
But the ex-spymaster has denied allegations related to the ouster of Khan from power and his involvement in the constitution of the Islamabad High Court benches.
Marwat’s statement was made about the alleged indecent videos of former PTI leaders in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, claiming that the party found that videos were purportedly made when Gen (retd) Faiz was the ISI chief.
The conversation started when the PTI MNA said that Khan did not think Pervez Khatta, Mahmood Khan, Asad Umar, and Fawad Chaudhry would quit the party. “Maybe Khan Sb will never forgive these people. If they had remained steadfast [in their determination to be with party], our party would not have been dismantled.”
But Lucman countered, saying they would have refused as purported videos of some of the leaders leaked and some were proven corrupt. “They were supposed to leave within a second.”
Marwat agreed with the host’s argument and said it was true. “I confirm that there were evidence and videos of most leaders who left us. They were blackmailed and they gave in to the pressure.”
He went on to claim that some of them prioritised joining another party to save their family relations. “Interestingly, all these videos were made when the PTI was in power and Faiz Sahab was involved in it.”
When the host tried to confirm whether he meant “General Faiz Hameed”, he replied in affirmative.
In response to a query, the PTI lawmaker stated that former Punjab chief minister Usman Buzdar was not a PTI leader and there would not be any leader who would want him to be a leader. “He [Buzdar] was a ‘fill in the blanks’.”
Marwat, known for his outspoken demeanour, cited that former president Arif Alvi had lost Khan’s trust and claimed that Sadiq Sanjrani’s tenure as acting president was not favourable for the PTI.
He added that Alvi “shirked” his duty by not giving the election date and asked the Election Commission of Pakistan to suggest a date.
The PTI leader also agreed with Lucman when he said that former KP chief minister Pervez Khattak committed corruption. But Marwat claimed that many former party leaders committed corruption.
He alleged that ex-CM Mahmood Khan earned a lot of money in the mining sector.
“When we say we believe in the supremacy of law so the use of prerogative of the state for the satisfaction of personal enmity is against the contradiction of the notion, but I want to say that the person will be treated in the way law treats them so we will leave it to the court if law sends them behind bars so they will. But I as Marwat will not chase them or call the police to chase them.”
