Govt to challenge JIT report in SC tomorrow: Khawaja Asif

Defence minister says the PML-N government has decided to defend every clause of the report with complete proofs

SIALKOT: Defence Minister Khawaja Asif has said that the PML-N government will challenge the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) report in the Supreme Court on Monday (July 17).

The government has decided to contest every clause of the report with complete proofs in the SC, he said while talking to the media on Sunday.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his family would emerge victorious from the Supreme Court, he said, adding that the anti-state elements were busy in hatching conspiracies against democracy and the democratic system in the country.

“The government will not allow anyone to derail democratic system in Pakistan,” he said.

Asif made it clear that the prime minister would not step down and would continue serving the nation. He said Premier Sharif had heavy mandate of the masses, therefore, he would never resign.

He said Nawaz Sharif was the most popular prime minister of Pakistan when his government had been toppled unconstitutionally twice in the past. The incumbent PML-N government would complete its constitutional term, he added.



“Every time his government had been toppled, Nawaz Sharif became much stronger,” he said, adding that the PML-N government had been toppled in 1999 to punish Sharif for making Pakistan a nuclear power.

He said the prevailing political scenario was increasing popularity of Premier Sharif. The PML-N would win the 2018 general elections with a majority vote, he added. The Pakistani nation is fully supporting Premier Sharif.

The minister said the armed forces of Pakistan were defending the eastern and western boundaries of Pakistan. He said the defence of Pakistan was in strong hands and the armed forces of Pakistan were fully capable of defending every inch of the motherland.

Also, Minister of State for Information, Broadcasting and National Heritage Marriyum Aurangzeb, while responding to fulminations of Imran Khan at the PTI workers convention on Sunday, strongly castigated him for what she termed “sheer hypocrisy” on his part.



In a statement issued here on Sunday, the state minister asked how a person who had been abusing state institutions, attacked parliament and hung dirty clothes on the premises of the Supreme Court, could talk about defending and upholding their sanctity and honour?

She said he had used Zakat funds for money laundering and was a fugitive from three courts but he still had the audacity to point accusing fingers at others and ask for their accountability.

Marriyum advised Imran to unlock the Ehtesab Commission of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and put that lock on his own wagging tongue.

She advised Imran to wait for the SC decision, adding the prime minister would emerge triumphant like always and Imran would have to eat dust.



Referring to his calls to party workers to come on the streets, she said if Nawaz Sharif gave a call to his party workers then Imran would have no place to hide.

The minister said the people of Pakistan would not spare Imran for what he had been doing during the last four years.

Meanwhile, Adviser to the Prime Minister Amir Muqam has alleged that ‘conspiracies’ were being hatched against democracy.

“Those who have been calling for Nawaz Sharif to resign will face the same [fate],” Muqam said while addressing a political gathering in the provincial capital on Sunday.

He said PTI Chairman Imran Khan was following dual standards, adding the country was on its way towards development but the enemy could not digest a developed Pakistan.

While talking about recent rains that caused immense problems for commuters in the provincial capital, Muqam said K-P Chief Minister Pervaiz Khattak should focus on running metro boats rather metro bus in the provincial capital. APP

(With additional input from our correspondent in Peshawar)