Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan has said that Pakistan is at a turning point.
“Today we stand at a turning point in our Constitutional history where we can be like Turkiye or become another Myanmar,” tweeted Khan.
The PTI leader went on to say, “Everyone must choose whether they stand, as PTI does, with Constitution, Rule of Law & democracy; or with a corrupt mafia, law of the jungle & fascism.”
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan has said that he will not sit with the government for dialogue, asserting that if any talks are held, his team will participate instead of him.
“I will not sit with the government. And if any dialogues are held on the issue of elections alone, my team, not me, will participate,” said the PTI chief.
“The dialogues should only be held on elections alone. However, I will not sit with those to whom I use to call thieves and corrupt,” he clarified. “And if the talks don’t go towards holding elections, then there is no benefit of dialogues,” he added.
Khan had hoped that after former Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa retired, there will be some change in the treatment given to his party, however, he claimed that matters have become even more difficult than they were before.
“We were hoping that when Gen Bajwa leaves, and there is change of command there would be some change. However, we have seen no change. Everything is the same, or I should say that the policies have intensified,” said Khan in an interview to news website Urdu.com on Sunday.
Khan said that he was not in contact with the establishment. He further said if talks are held on elections alone, his party will talk to anyone. When asked if the establishment has something personal against Khan, he said that he can’t say much about this but he knows one thing for sure that Gen (retd) Bajwa caused a lot of oppression on PTI. “We used to ask the police they would say that we have orders from higher ups,” he stated.
Talking about forced disappearances, Khan said that he knew who was responsible for taking away PTI social media activist Azhar Mashwani.
“We knew who took Azhar Mashwani. It was neither police who was involved nor FIA. We know which agency was behind it,” said Khan.
“There are actually scared. They only want my complete blackout. They have banned me on media and now they’re after my social media presence,” said Khan.
Humza Yousaf has made history by becoming Scotland’s first Muslim First Minister.
Yousaf has ignited considerable curiosity in Pakistan as to his roots and political inclinations.
Digging deep, we found a very old tweet of Humza and it seems like he had been an admirer of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan. In 2012, the newly-elected Scotland leader attended Khan’s jalsa and met him.
He wrote: “Great rally amazing energy at Imran Khan rally and very good meeting with him afterward.”
Recently, when Imran congratulated Humza on being elected, Scotland’s First Minister ignored the tweet, however, he replied to current Foreign Minister (FM) Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari instead.
The minister wished him well saying, “Wishing you all the best for your term in Bute House and looking forward for strong partnership in the domains of trade, investment, culture and education.”
In response, Humza mentioned that “Pakistan will always have a special place in his heart”.
“Scotland’s relationship with Pakistan is a friendship that has blossomed through many generations, I look forward to it growing stronger, ” he added.
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo, Nawaz Sharif, has spoken out against the decision to disqualify him as prime minister, stating that it hurt the future of the country.
Speaking at a press conference in London on Friday evening, Nawaz said, “I appeal to my people, open your eyes. This is a cruel joke. In 2017, weren’t you happy? You had full stomachs, your families were content. After 2017, what was the situation?”
Hitting out at the judiciary, Nawaz criticised incumbent Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial and former-CJP Saqib Nisar and said there was consensus “among all” that a full court should hear the elections case.
“Then why this zid [stubbornness]? Why the insistence that only three judges will be on the bench? This is a national issue, not the issue of one truck, cart or of vacating a plot. Why just these three judges?” he questioned.
“All political parties have said this, the government wants this, bar associations want this, parliament has expressed its will and even passed its bill. It is now with the president… parliament is the country’s major institution, its sanctity should be respected,” he elaborated.
Justice Bandial has been criticised for forming what critics have called a “like-minded bench” to hear major cases, ignoring senior judges, most notably Justice Qazi Faez Isa.
“For one man, you [the judges] are giving decisions? Have you ever taken a suo motu on things said by Justice Shaukat Siddiqi? Or what ex-COAS Gen Bajwa said? Doesn’t this warrant a suo motu that Nawaz Sharif was treated unjustly,” Nawaz Sharif asked, who was disqualified for life by a Supreme Court bench.
“Are all decisions and benches for Imran Khan?” questioned the former Prime Minister, adding “I also heard that the chief justice had tears in his eyes, if these are from fear of God then that is welcome news. I cannot say more.”
Furthermore, Nawaz called for a full court to be formed to hear a petition by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) against the delay in Punjab elections.
Now at three members — resumed hearing the PTI’s petition against the Election Commission of Pakistan’s decision to delay polls in Punjab on Friday.
The Supreme Court on Friday rejected the government’s request to form a full court on the Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa election delay case.
A three-member bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial, comprising Justice Ijaz Ul Ahsan and Justice Munib Akhtar, rejected the request put forward by Attorney General for Pakistan Mansoor Usman Awan on behalf of the government.
During the hearing it was reported that CJP Bandial got teary eyed and said that he too has a heart and emotions.
Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail, who was part of the four-member bench hearing the case against the delay of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) elections, has excused himself from hearings on Friday morning, adding to the turmoil gripping the Supreme Court.
Justice Mandokhail said that Justice Amin-ud-Din excused himself from hearing the case. After Justice Amin’s decision, the order was awaited. “I received the court order yesterday at home. I have written a separate note on the order, Attorney General, please read the dissenting note,” said Justice Mandokhail.
The Attorney General read the dissenting note of Justice Jamal Mandokhail, in which it was said that he was a member of the bench; he was not consulted while writing the judgment. “I think I am a misfit in the bench,” the justice wrote in his note.
A four-member bench of the Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial was to hear Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) plea against the delay in elections in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Punjab today.
Initially, a five-member larger bench of the top court was hearing the case.
The original bench comprised CJP Bandial, Justice Ijaz Ul Ahsan, Justice Munib Akhtar, Justice Amin-Ud-Din Khan, and Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail.
However, on Thursday the bench was dissolved after Justice Khan recused himself from the case after a Supreme Court order halted proceedings under Article 184(3).
After the dissolution of the bench, Supreme Court announced that the bench would continue hearing the case without Justice Khan.
Taking to Twitter, the PTI Chairman Imran Khan said, “Whether it’s a 5 mbr SC bench or Full Bench, it makes no difference to us bec all we want to know is if elections will be held within the 90 days’ constitutional provision.”
“Before we dissolved our two provincial assemblies, I consulted our top constitutional lawyers, all of whom were clear that the 90-day constitutional provision on holding elections was inviolable.”
“Now Imported Govt of crooks, their handlers & a compromised ECP are making a complete mockery of Constitution. By cherry picking which Articles of Constitution they will abide by, they are threatening the very foundation of Pakistan, which is the Constitution & Rule of Law. So petrified are they of elections & so desperate to whitewash their convicted ldrs that they are prepared to destroy the Constitution & any semblance of Rule of Law.”
Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday directed Law Minister Azam Nazir Tarar to withdraw the curative review reference filed against Justice Qazi Faez Isa of the Supreme Court.
“On my direction, the government has decided to withdraw the Curative Review Petition against senior most Judge of the Supreme Court, Justice Qazi Faez Isa,” tweeted the PM.
In a tweet posted today, the PM said that the curative review was based on “ill-will and meant to harass and intimidate the honourable Judge at the behest of Imran Niazi”.
Separately, in a statement issued by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) today, PM Shehbaz said that Justice Isa and his family were “harassed and defamed” in the name of the reference.
“This was not a reference, but a vendetta by Imran Khan Niazi, a vindictive person, against a fair-minded judge who followed the path of the Constitution and the law,” the statement quoted the PM as saying.
“Imran Niazi misused the constitutional office of the president for this criminal act and President Arif Alvi became an instrument in the attack on the judiciary and an accomplice to a lie.”
Activist, screenwriter and producer Jemima Khan has shared a picture of two unidentified men who were caught trying to break into her London flat a few days ago. Khan asked her followers to identify the men so they could be reported to the police.
Speaking to Geo News, Khan said that she had immediately called the police and a report was registered with Scotland Yard.
“And then these two guys captured on camera trespassing a few weeks later in the day,” Khan revealed about the men whose pictures she had shared online.
This is not the first time Khan’s house has been targeted by critics, as last year she shared a picture of the protests organized by PMLN supporters outside her home, who were targeting her and two children, Suleiman and Kasim, with anti-semitic slurs.
In a fiery speech delivered on Wednesday on the floor of the National Assembly, Foreign Minister (FM) Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari said that for the past 30 years, “Pakistani institutions have been making this Frankenstein”, referring to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan.
“This happens all the time,” he said in a speech that took aim at Imran Khan, the establishment and the judiciary. “Some Einsteins sit in our institutions; they make the decisions for the country. They manufacture these strategic assets, and then the assets come back to haunt the rest of us,” said Bilawal.
The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman reminded the members that the nation bravely fought against terrorists and eradicated terrorism from the country.
It was unfortunate that the terrorism eliminated due to sacrifices of the Pakistan Army, police and common masses had been revived by Imran Khan, the minister remarked.
Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, who lost his mother- former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto – to a terrorist attack, also said that militants “played Holi” with the blood of the Pakistani nation for years yet the former prime minister pardoned the terrorists and brought them back to resettle them.
“There is no example in the world of how our tribal people fought with terrorists,” he added.
Taking aim at the former heads of Inter-Services Intelligence, the PPP head said that General Hameed Gul held [Imran’s] finger, while the role of General Pasha, General Zaheerul Islam, and General Faiz Hameed is obvious to everyone.
“Dictatorship in the Supreme Court (SC) was started by Iftikhar Chaudhry, and he was also a part of this hybrid war, his aim was the end of the Constitution; General Faiz and General Pasha are gone but Imran remains,” he added.
The foreign minister said that they have been talking about the supremacy of the Constitution and free media, but undemocratic steps were taken in response to their democratic step.
He said that they did not do anything undemocratic by expelling an “undemocratic prime minister” and it is not appropriate to remain silent for the sake of democracy.
“The nation must be told why such situations have happened,” he added.
He further said that in response to the no-confidence motion, the then-prime minister, the-then speaker of the lower house, and the current president of the country “broke the Constitution”. “What did Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif do in response to this? If the constitution and law have been broken, file a case,” he demanded.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) senior leader Fawad Chaudhry has said in an interview that the party respects Justice Qazi Faez Isa who is set to become the next Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) later this year.
In an interview with WE news, he said, “We have a relationship of respect with Justice Faez Isa”, adding that he disapproved the idea of filing a reference against the top judge.
He said when the current government files a reference against the judiciary, it means they want to put the judges under pressure.
“The government must allow the judiciary to function independently,” he asserted.
In 2020, Justice Faez was accused of concealing assets and PTI filed a reference against him. Justice Isa then asked the Supreme Court that a full bench be constituted, a plea that was accepted by then CJP Asif Saeed Khosa and after a months-long trial, a full bench of the apex court dismissed the petition against him.
Later, Khan himself accepted his mistake of filing a presidential reference against the judge.
During the interview, Fawad Chaudhry once again said that the former ruling party is ready for talks. He mentioned that the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Asim Munir has also talked about the consensus but as of yet no effort has been made.
Talking about PM Shehbaz, Chaudhry said that he is running from the elections and is being “non-serious”.
He claimed that “they [government] want martial law in the country”.