After much ado on the ‘’ claim by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), the party’s key leader Arif Alvi has tendered an apology admitting the remarks were based on rumours and hearsay. Alvi took to social media on Thursday to refute and withdraw the statement and oft-quoted by the PTI chairman. And while Imran himself didn’t apologise in explicit terms, he did admit on Wednesday that the remarks made were ‘of a political nature.’ The move was welcomed by Najam Sethi, then Pakistan Cricket Board chairman, whom Imran directly accused of the wrongdoing. On May 12, 2014, the PTI chairman had strongly criticised Sethi for his alleged role in rigging the 2013 general elections. Imran said the PML-N after coming to power rewarded Sethi by making him chairman of the PCB. He demanded Parliament introduce legislation to bar every member of an interim setup from assuming any government office for two years after serving as caretaker.What this means is that all those angry speeches and dire accusations were made only to generate political pressure. It means that the leader who promised to “never lie to the nation”, lied to its face consistently, and that too just to play politics. It makes us wonder how many other statements were based on the truth and home may were just ‘political statements’. Imran khan understands that the right words will excite the crowd and draw loud cheers, but he must understand that words have consequences. This is not a case of Imran Khan clarifying a confused issue; everyone knew exactly what the “35 punctures” meant. It supposedly alluded to a specific recorded call in which Sethi assured Nawaz Sharif that 35 specific constituencies have been rigged – a call that was heard by the senior party members. But it turns out the origin of the story lies in an anecdote told to a friend who repeated it to another and so on, in short; based on unsubstantiated hearsay. In such circumstances an apology by Imran Khan to Najam Sethi is merited.
pk.shafaqna.com
