Audio tapes being released to blackmailing me: Imran Khan

LAHORE, Dec 27 (SABAH): Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan said on Tuesday the audio tapes were being released to blackmail him and malign his image.

During an interview with a private TV channel, Imran Khan said that conspiracy to oust him as prime minister was hatched inside the country adding Hussain Haqqani was conspiring against him. “What could be more treacherous than installing thieves on powerful positions and quashing cases against them”, he added.

Taking a dig at the incumbent government, he said the incumbent government had ruined all the institutions adding PM Shehbaz Sharif destroyed Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) first after coming into power. “FIA official Rizwan died of cardiac arrest and four witnesses against Shehbaz are no more”, he added.

Khan went on to say that the amendments to National Accountability Bureau (NAB) law were helping powerful criminals reign free adding the amendments had given license of corruption to the powerful. “When the court ordered the NAB to provide evidence of Nawaz Sharif’s ownership of London flats, the government rendered NAB and FIA dysfunctional [to avoid the court battle]”, he added.

He said the appointment of Najam Sethi as the chairman of Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) would ruin cricket too as Sethi had never played cricket. “Are even Sethi and former PCB chairman Ramiz Raja comparable”, he questioned.

The PTI chief while calling the incumbent government “economic hitman” said thieves had ruined the country’s economy adding Pakistan was facing history’s highest inflation.