PTI leader Jahangir Tareen on Monday cautioned the government against “playing politics” with him and the group of Punjab lawmakers loyal to him. The PTI leader was speaking to media outside a banking court in Lahore where he had appeared for a hearing into a case registered against him. The court adjourned proceedings of the case till June 11.
“Imran Khan appointed Barrister Ali Zafar to head the inquiry [against Tareen],” he said. “I have a lot of respect for Zafar. He worked hard and completed the inquiry. I was expecting the report would be made public by now,” added the PTI leader.
Tareen said speculations were doing the rounds that Zafar had provided a “verbal report” to the prime minister, which he said, was in his favour. “Imran Khan promised justice will be done. A lot of days have passed, I should get justice by now,” he said.
Tareen 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 (without elaborating much) that he knew a lot of things which he could not divulge in front of the media.
“When the time comes, I will reveal everything in front of the media,” he said.
In response to a question, Tareen said he had “not met any senior ranking official of the government”, adding that he was fighting his cases in the courts.
When a reporter asked Tareen whether the government was resorting to delaying tactics in his case so that the government can ensure the budget passes in Punjab Assembly without any hiccups, the PTI leader said: “Do not play politics with us. Give us justice,” he said.
JKT given clean chit?
Some media reports claim that Jahangir Tareen has been given a clean chit after Senator Barrister Ali Zafar’s analysis of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) cases. “Barrister Zafar has absolved Mr Tareen of all charges of Satta (sugar pricing manipulation), sugar price hike and any other illegal work in sugar related matters,” MNA Raja Riaz, a spokesperson for Mr Tareen’s group of lawmakers, told daily Dawn.
“Barrister Zafar had briefed adviser to prime minister on accountability Shahzad Akbar and Jahangir Tareen in a meeting on Tuesday in Islamabad on his findings about the sugar scam probe. Mr Zafar told them that Mr Tareen had not been found guilty of the charges framed by the FIA Lahore,” Mr Riaz said and added that a ‘clean chit’ had been given to Mr Tareen by Mr Zafar and the Tareen group thanked Prime Minister Khan in this respect.
Mr Riaz also said that Barrister Zafar had recommended that Mr Tareen’s case should be forwarded to the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) as FIA had nothing to do with it.
“After Barrister Zafar’s findings the enemies of Mr Tareen stand exposed,” said Riaz. Both Mr Akbar and Mr Zafar denied having a joint meeting with Mr Tareen in Islamabad on Tuesday.
However I have been tasked to see into complaints of JkT and will be making my recommendations directly and only to the PM once I conclude. 3/3
— Barrister Syed Ali Zafar (@SyedAliZafar1) May 26, 2021
Mr Zafar said he had meetings with Mr Tareen but did not see him in the presence of Mr Akbar on Tuesday. “Some persons/media are busy guessing on what my findings in JKT (Jahangir Khan Tareen) turn out to be. Let me make it clear that there is no report submitted by me. Any findings, not necessarily in writing, shall be purely internal to the PTI and have no legal value or status nor can the same have any relevance to or affect pending inquiries/investigations against the sugar barons or Mr Tareen,” Mr Zafar said in a series of tweets on Wednesday.
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Some analysts believe that since Zafar’s findings had landed the PTI government in an awkward position because of its ‘accountability narrative’ the cronies of PM Khan were trying to block his (Zafar) report. “Those around PM Khan do not want this report to be made public as it will compromise its NRO narrative,” an insider told Dawn.