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Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan announced on Monday that his party would protest against the appointment of caretaker Chief Minister of Punjab province, Mohsin Naqvi and will also move to court.
In a video message, Imran Khan said, "I will start the protest from tomorrow (Tuesday) in Lahore and then will go to Pindi on Wednesday, Faislabad, Multan against the appointment of corrupt Mohsin Naqvi as Punjab's caretaker CM." Earlier, on Sunday, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) appointed Syed Mohsin Raza Naqvi as the caretaker chief minister of Punjab province, the Dawn reported, adding that the decision of the ECP came after the matter was referred to the electoral watchdog after a bi-partisan parliamentary committee failed to reach a consensus on the matter within the stipulated time. Talking about taking the case to court, Khan said according to the constitution, after the dissolution of the previous government, the caretaker needs to give the next election date in the next 48 hours but till now, Punjab caretaker CM and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have not given any details. In a televised address, the former prime minister said he foresaw the appointment of people to top offices after the election of Naqvi -- who took oath as the caretaker CM a day earlier. "When I was in power, I received a report about a man who tried the most to topple [PTI's] government. His name was Mohsin Naqvi. The intelligence bureau also gave a report on his activities," Khan said, expressing his concerns over the media mogul. "Mohsin Naqvi will bring all those people who are our staunch opponents," he added. Calling out the Election Commission as 'worst', the ousted PM said that their decision to appoint Naqvi as the caretaker is the 'wrong decision'. He also recalled the previous protest, saying, "We dissolved the assembly so that a fresh election can start but after the appointment of the new caretaker, the election's future seems to be in dark." The deposed prime minister, whose government was toppled last April due to a no-confidence motion against him, censured the Punjab interim chief minister for his association with the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari. "The standards of our democracy have degraded so much that no one trusts the government to conduct transparent elections. The basic reason behind a caretaker government is its neutrality," Khan said. The former premier lamented that the names proposed for the interim CM slot by his party were all rejected. "We chose Nasir Khosa's name thinking they will like it. Ahmed Sukhera was the cabinet secretary at the time, we thought there wouldn't be an objection to him too. Naveed Akram Cheema was also [Prime Minister] Shehbaz Sharif's secretary. But they rejected all our names," he said. Khan also vowed that he would not accept a 'corrupt' person in such a high-ranking post. On January 14, the provincial assembly (PA) in Pakistan's Punjab was dissolved after Governor Baligh Ur Rehman said he decided not to become a part of the process, the Dawn reported. (ANI)
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