LAHORE: Punjab lawmakers from the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) accompanied sugar baron Jahangir Tareen to court as a show of support where latter and his son appeared for an extension in their interim bail.
Raja Riaz, Lala Tahir Randhawa, Noman Langrial, Salman Naeem, Ghulam Bibi, Khurram Leghari, and Abdul Hai Dasti showed up to support Tareen. All lawmakers had come to court, with Tareen from his residence, in a single van.
Talking to journalists, MNA Raja Riaz clarified that their captain was Prime Minister Imran Khan, while extending support to Jahangir Tareen. “We are not blackmailers. We are sympathetic to PTI and want to make party stronger,” he added.
“Those who are conspiring against Jahangir Tareen are conspiring against Imran Khan and PTI,” Riaz said, adding that there were “some people” with the PM that were targeting Tareen.
Riaz further said that there was no need for the Prime Minister to be “angry” with them as they were seeking an investigation team with “honest” people in it. “We want justice from Tehreek-e-Insaf,” he added.
Taking over the presser, Punjab Minister for Management and Professional Development Nauman Langrial appealed to other PTI members to make Jahangir Tareen “stronger”.
“We will help Jahangir Tareen and stay with him and make the party stronger,” Langrial said, adding that those who want the PTI to become weak want to weaken the country.
Dinner for PTI lawmakers
Jahangir Tareen invited lawmakers to dinner on Friday at his Lahore residence. More than 29 members of the national and provincial assemblies attended the gathering.
Among them, eight were from the National Assembly, two were provincial ministers, four were provincial advisors and 21 were members of the Punjab Assembly. The attendees of the dinner demanded the withdrawal of cases against Jahangir Tareen and called for putting an end to his trial.
The attendees also expressed their solidarity with Tareen and decided to hold a meeting with the prime minister over the matter. The participants were of the views that under a conspiracy, factions were being made in the party.
Court extends Tareen’s bail
A banking court on Saturday extended the pre-arrest bail of PTI stalwart Jahangir Tareen and his son Ali Tareen in money laundering and financial fraud cases till April 22.
Jahangir Tareen and his Ali Tareen appeared before the court as it conducted hearings of the bail pleas. Six lawmakers from the National Assembly (NA) and 21 legislators from the provincial assembly also appeared alongside them.
During the hearing, Tareen’s counsel told the court that his client and his son appeared before the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) after being summoned in connection with an investigation. He pleaded to grant for an extended period due to the current situation of the coronavirus pandemic.
