Former federal minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Senior Vice President Fawad Chaudhry on Tuesday claimed that the party’s MPAs in Punjab were allegedly offered bribes from “unknown numbers” to change their loyalties, urging Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Asim Munir to initiate an independent inquiry.
“Institutions don’t favor any specific political party in the country, and the new army leader is apolitical,” Fawad said while addressing a press conference in Lahore following a meeting with PTI Chairman Imran Khan.
“Unfortunately, our MPAs from Muzaffargarh told the former prime minister that they received calls from unknown numbers and were offered bribes to change their loyalties,” he added.
Unknown people met the members of the joint investigation team (JIT) tasked with probing the assassination attack on Khan and tried to dictate to them about the probe, he said, quoting the media reports.
Expressing serious concerns over the matter, the PTI leader urged the army chief to ensure the neutrality of the institution.
“We do not know that the allegations are true or not,” he said and underlined the need for an independent investigation to bring forth the truth.
Earlier, former Prime Minister Imran Khan asked the military establishment to refrain from political engineering in the next general elections.
While addressing a women’s convention of PTI in Karachi via video link from his Zaman Park residence in Lahore, Imran said political engineering would be carried out in the next elections to weaken PTI – which he stressed is the most popular political party and urged the powerful quarters to refrain from making such a mistake.
Imran’s statement comes days after he said that the military establishment does not appear to be neutral in the matter of the vote of confidence against Punjab Chief Minister Parvez Elahi.
“Our people are being forced to vote against Parvez Elahi in the vote of confidence. So far, at least three of our Members Provincial Assembly (MPAs) have confirmed being approached by the establishment people,” he said while speaking to the court reporters at his Zaman Park residence in Lahore.
