Former religious affairs minister Noorul Haq Qadri told journalists that the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) was behind a planned campaign aimed at making Imran controversial among the people. He was flanked by party leaders Asad Qaiser and Iftikhar Durrani at the presser.
Mainstream political parties have often taken recourse to religious rhetoric for political point scoring. And, the PTI, by no means is different on this account. The Friday Times-Naya Daur presents a list of select instances where the party unashamedly employed the religious card.
PTI chairman Imran Khan accused dissenting party lawmakers of shirk (polytheism) in a July, 2022 address. “Shirk also encompasses avarice compelling one to sell their conscience just like some of our very own," Khan had said.
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Former rights minister Shireen Mazari had accused Finance Minister Miftah Ismail of "ridiculing basic Islamic concepts" in an April, 2022 tweet. Ismail was speaking at the Atlantic Council in Washington where Mazari alleged he had done so.
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When probed over his praise for economist Atif Mian on the sidelines of the PTI's 2014 Azaadi March, Khan said his comments were premised on a list ranking Mian as one of the world's foremost in his field. He said he had no idea about the economist's confession. Khan also went on to add that the PTI had no intention of tweaking the Second Amendment to the Constitution of Pakistan which classifies the Ahmadiyya as a non-Muslim minority community.
Earlier in 2011 Khan likened a political alliance with Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) supremo Nawaz Sharif and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari to apostasy. He said the two were thieves who remained busy with concealing each other's plunder.