The Planning Minister of Pakistan, Ahsan Iqbal, said on Sunday that his comments were taken “out of context” when he said China had warned Pakistan’s establishment ahead of the 2018 elections.
The minister made the statement before leaving for China to attend the CPEC’s Special Commemorative 12th Joint Coordination Committee (JCC) meeting, which will be place today (Tuesday) in Beijing. “China maintains a policy of non-interference in the domestic affairs of other countries,” he said.
As Pakistan and China commemorate a decade of progress on the CPEC project, Iqbal is leading the Pakistani delegation.
“Some senior businessmen working on CPEC projects privately expressed the opinion that fair and free election was in the best interest of Pakistan,” he said.
The minister continued, saying, “by March/April 2018, it had become abundantly clear and was being openly discussed in international media that [the] establishment of that time did not want the PML-N (Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz) govt to return and was helping the PTI to come to power through interference in [the] electoral process.”
In an interview with a private news channel on Saturday, Iqbal had said that China had warned Pakistan’s leaders against attempting any new political experiments in advance of the 2018 general elections because Beijing was afraid that doing so would undermine the CPEC project.
Iqbal, a member of the ruling PML-N, made a reference to the ascent of the PTI in the wake of the 2018 elections, saying, “China in a diplomatic manner had tried to convey [a message] to the then establishment to avoid any new experiment.”
He also disclosed that the previous administration had guaranteed Beijing that the current administration would not stymie the massive infrastructure and connectivity initiative.
The minister emphasized the significance of maintaining policies that promote growth and improvement.
The head of the PML-N claimed that the PTI was trying to make CPEC problematic by making claims of corruption against the project and by having their leaders’ controversial utterances emphasized in the Western media.
“(Former minister and PTI leader) Murad Saeed embarrassed a state-owned Chinese firm by making false corruption claims against me in relation to the CPEC.
It may be the first time a state-owned Chinese corporation has publicly condemned a minister with whom it has worked, he speculated.
He claimed that the PTI-led administration destroyed the goodwill the PML-N had built up by making false accusations and making it difficult for Chinese employees to renew their visas, among other things.
The current government, headed by the PML-N, has been blaming the previous administration for policies that were detrimental to megaprojects and discouraging to overseas investors.
