Kayani, US, Saudi Arabia engineered 2013 elections in favour of PML-N: Naeemul Haque

KARACHI: In a rather astonishing statement, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Information Secretary Naeemul Haque alleged Monday that former chief of army staff General Ashfaq Pervaiz Kayani engineered the general elections in 2013 with the support of Saudi Arabia and the USA in favour of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

Speaking During Geo News' program Aaj Shahzeb Khanzada Kay Saath, Naeemul Haque quoted a satire piece, published on April 1, which suggested that Imran Khan's party was all set to win at least 60% seats from all over Pakistan; however, due to massive rigging by certain policy circles their mandate was stolen.   

Haque said, "It is all in our knowledge, there was nothing new in the published article. General Kayani, Saudi Arabia and the USA engineered the election in favour of Nawaz Sharif.”

“The polls were stopped in middle of the night. ROs were pressured to follow the instructions,” he added.

However, despite repeated requests to share any proofs to back the allegations, the party's information secretary refused to give any.

“I challenge Gen (Retd) Kayani to refute the allegation. We don't need to give any proof; people are aware of the facts. Ingenuities are not exercised on a written paper. There are no safe recordings available of such acts.”

He added that in case there is a PTI government in future, the party will form a commission to investigate the elections.

'Irresponsible statement'

Reacting to the statement by Naeemul Haque, State Minister for Information Marriyum Aurangzeb said that the "statement by PTI information secretary is irresponsible and he should apologise for that".

She regretted allegations against a key institution and the ex-army chief. "There is no evidence, but still four countries, a national institution and an individual were accused."

The minister said that the PTI, for the sake of keeping its inability out of sight, has made it a routine to insult people, level allegations and use foul language against them.

"Politics is something Imran Khan is not able to do," she maintained.