‘Don’t do politics with us’: Jahangir Tareen tells PTI govt

LAHORE: Estranged PTI leader Jahangir Tareen today (Monday) cautioned the ruling Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) against “playing politics” with him and the group of Punjab lawmakers loyal to him.

“Prime Minister Imran Khan had promised that justice will be delivered, and so it should be delivered now. Don’t do politics with us, do justice with us,” the PTI leader said, while speaking to journalists outside a Lahore sessions court. The court adjourned proceedings of the case till June 11.

Tareen said, “Baseless allegations were levelled against me and now a new date is issued on every hearing.” Referring to Barrister Ali Zafar, he said, “Imran Khan appointed Barrister Ali Zafar to head the inquiry. I respect Ali Zafar who made his effort to complete the report,” added, “We hoped that the report would be public by now, but that hasn’t happened yet.”

The estranged leader further said whatever Zafar had said about the cases against him should be made public. When asked how he would react if Zafar’s report does not go in his favour, the PTI leader said he knew a lot of things that he could not divulge in front of the media.

In response to a question, Jahangir Tareen denied reports that he had met a high-ranking government official regarding the inquiries against him. “I have had no meeting with any senior government official. There was no meeting and this news is wrong and based on misunderstanding,” he responded.

“If justice is delayed then justice is not really served. The time for justice has come so the request is again to take action on whatever Zafar has said in his report,” he added.

Interim bail extended till June 11

Both Tareen and his son, Ali Tareen, were present in court today (Monday) where Additional Sessions Judge Hamid Hussain presided over the hearing of their bail petition.

The court extended their interim bail to June 11. Meanwhile, the court also issued a show-cause notice to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) for not completing its investigation in the case.

A banking court also adjourned its hearing on the bail petitions to June 11 due to the unavailability of a judge and also extended Tareen and his son’s bail.