Pak govt wants Imran banned, disqualified over ECP 'charge sheet'

Pakistan's ruling coalition government wants Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan to be banned and disqualified after the Election Commission of Pakistan's (ECP) verdict over the foreign funding case that confirmed charges against his party.

Terming the ECP's verdict in the prohibited funding case of the PTI a "charge sheet" against the party, members of the ruling coalition claim it has proved 'anti-Pakistan forces' were behind the establishment of the party and labelled party chief Imran Khan everything from a liar, corrupt, foreign agent to a money launderer, reported Dawn.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday maintained the ECP decision declared Khan a "certified liar" for submitting false affidavits, while Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman and foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari's spokesman said the verdict proved the former PM was a corrupt person and running his political party under the name of Shaukat Khanum Cancer Hospital.

"The ECP verdict on PTI foreign funding case charge-sheets Imran Niazi for violating the Constitution, submitting false affidavits, and accepting foreign money," the prime minister tweeted after the ECP announced its decision on Tuesday morning.

"Proven yet again that he is a certified liar," he added and urged the nation to ponder over the implications of Khan's politics funded by foreigners.

Meanwhile, Pakistan Muslim League - Nawaz (PML-N) supremo, Nawaz Sharif took a dig at Khan and said that how the person who would lecture on honesty had been exposed as the 'biggest thief in history', reported Dawn.

From London, Nawaz Sharif urged the federal government to take "immediate legal action" against Imran Khan following the ECP verdict.

PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz said that Imran Khan took money from foreign powers to create anarchy.

"This foreign agent was launched to stop CPEC and the progress of Pakistan. This man who used to give sermons on liberating the nation from slavery, in fact, turned out to be a slave of foreign powers. He took money from these foreign powers to create anarchy in Pakistan," Maryam Nawaz said in a series of tweets.

Recently ousted Punjab chief minister and the prime minister's son, Hamza Shehbaz, said the ECP verdict had exposed the alleged foreign conspiracy involving Imran Khan, reported Dawn.

"Taking money from citizens and companies of countries like the US and India, Imran Khan created anarchy in his own country," he said.

Speaking at a press conference, PML-N leader Tallal Chaudhry demanded a lifetime ban and imprisonment for Khan.

Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb said a "thief, liar involved in foreign funding and money laundering" has finally been caught after eight years. In a statement, she demanded Khan resign from the party chairman post immediately, reported Dawn.

Minister for Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety Shazia Marri of the PPP, which is an ally of the PML-N in the ruling coalition in the Centre, stated legal action would be pursued after the ECP proved financial crimes committed by the PTI.

The PTI chief submitted false affidavits before the ECP and delayed the decision for eight years through writ petitions, she remarked. "Now a legal process will be followed in light of this decision," Marri declared.

Pakistan Democratic Movement head and chief of his own faction of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam, Maulana Fazlur Rehman, demanded the PTI be banned and Imran Khan disqualified, reported Dawn.

In a press conference, he said, "The ECP decision has proven that Imran Khan has been working against the country's interests and the PTI working against the country by using funds from foreign sources."

( With inputs from ANI )

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