ISLAMABAD: Defence Minister Pervez Khattak’s brother and former PTI member Thursday formally joined JUI-F .

Former provincial minister and MPA Liaquat Khattak made the announcement that he, his son, and other people are joining the party during a joint press conference with JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman in Islamabad.

Talking to journalists, Fazl welcomed Khattak to the party and said that their family had expressed no confidence in the government’s leadership, taking a jibe at the defence minister.

“The captain (Imran Khan) says he is a player and knows how to counter [problems]. You received funding from India, US, and Israel.

“If you want to compete with me on a level playing field, then come out in the open,” the JUI-F chief said.

PDM Chief said that Imran Khan was issuing threats to the opposition that he would act against them after the no-trust motion is defeated. “Don’t issue threats. We are not wearing bangles either, he said.

He said Imran Khan’s fate would be worse than that of Afghanistan’s Ashraf Ghani, who fled the country as the Taliban closed in on Kabul on August 15, 2021.

Fazlur Rehman said even Imran Khan’s foreign masters had been disappointed with him because of his incompetence.

The PDM chief said the US had never asked Imran Khan’s government to provide military bases in Pakistan as officials, including National Security Advisor Moeed Yusuf, had told MPs in briefings. “Had they asked for bases, you would not dare refuse them,” he said.

He said Imran Khan was using abusive language against the opposition, but “the difficulty is we are gentlemen. We don’t have expletives on our tongues,” the PDM chief said.

He questioned why the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had failed to decide the foreign funding case against the PTI.