The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), that keeps blaming the US for leading a regime change conspiracy in Pakistan and ousting its government in the Centre, has hired an American lobbying and Public Relations (PR) firm at a cost of 25,000 dollars per month to manage its public and media relations in the United States. According to the documents filed with the Justice Department under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), lobbying firm Fenton/Arlook will provide public relations services, including but not limited to distributing information to and briefing journalists, placing articles and broadcasts, arranging interviews with representatives or supporters of PTI, advising on social media efforts and other such public relations services.
Commenting on the news, the Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr Musadik Malik, said that the deal was a conspiracy against the country’s nuclear weapons. Elaborating on his accusation, the minister said that the lobbying firm was headed by David Fenton, who had been stressing denuclearization of Pakistan, and he has written many books on it. Addressing a news conference in Islamabad, the minister posed a counter-question to PTI. He said that the PTI chief should now tell the nation as to who the traitor was. The minister said that PTI received funds from over 350 foreign companies, and used the donations to run the affairs of the party. These details were provided to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), when Imran Khan was in power.
The PTI government had not deposited billions of rupees, recovered from a business tycoon in the UK, in the national exchequer. The accountability czar, Dr Shahzad Akbar, settled the whole matter. In exchange for the deal, the PTI chief got 458 kanals of land in the name of Al-Qadir Trust. Dr Musadik said that Imran Khan took prohibited funding of billions of rupees from Arif Naqvi, which was illegal as per the law no political party could get funds from anyone other than Pakistani citizens. The minister said that unfortunately, in a case against the PML-N leader Maryam Nawaz, the court had remanded her for 45 days, while a person (Shabaz Gill) who gave a call for mutiny, was sent on remand for only two days. He said that the application of the law should be equal for all citizens of the country.