Imran Khan seeks Memogate-style probe into ‘Lettergate’

Ex-PM asks top court to form high-powered commission of judges to investigate ‘foreign conspiracy’ against his govt

ISLAMABAD:

Imran Khan has requested the Supreme Court to set up a Memogate-style commission to probe into an alleged foreign conspiracy to topple his government.

“It is the genuine aspiration/desire of the answering Respondent [Imran Khan] that this honourable court which has taken cognisance of this matter should hold inquisitorial proceedings as done in the “Memogate case”, constitute a high-powered commission of judges of the Superior Court as done in the mentioned case.

“The said commission must analyse the incriminating evidence, take notice of the blatant horse-trading conducted by these corrupt politicians, some of whose family members are absconders of law and have taken refuge in safe heavens in the west,” reads a statement of facts submitted by Khan through his counsels Imtiaz Rasheed Siddiqui and Chaudhry Faisal Hussain in the suo motu case regarding the ruling of the National Assembly’s deputy speaker which rejected the no-confidence motion against the prime minister.

Well-placed officials of foreign governments commonly known as the “west” expressed their displeasure with the independent approach adopted by Khan and his cabinet, reads the statement.

“This was followed by sensitive communications as well as gathered most sensitive intelligence by the security agencies of Pakistan which manifested that the movement led by the opposition was no longer indigenous or routine democratic effort, but was foreign sponsored; it was aided as well as funded by those states which had become irritated/hostile to the struggle of the federal government to maintain an independent posture within the international community of the world,” says the former prime minister.

He further stated that various facts of the collected evidence were deliberated with anxiety and anguish within the meeting of the cabinet. The same was followed by a meeting of the National Security Council held on March, 31, 2022.

“In this meeting a full deliberation/analysis took place and the most sensitive evidence gathered in this regard was considered; satisfaction was expressed about its authenticity and the grave threat it posed to the integrity of Pakistan and its institutions.

“The participants of the National Security Council were convinced that the ill-conceived movement of the opposition to dislodge the democratically elected government of the answering Respondent [Imran Khan] was foreign funded as well as supported; the object thereof was to defeat the national and international priorities fixed by the state of Pakistan,” reads the statement.

Khan claims that the most sensitive evidence, gathered and secured, is available with the security apparatus of Pakistan. “It can be presented to the apex court, should it desires to scrutinise the same ‘in camera’ without revealing it to any other entity,” he tells the top court.

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It is the matter of public knowledge and record that in brought daylight a most horrific and embarrassing horse-trading activity took place: the member MNAs of PTI, led by the opposition members of the ruling party/ PTI were encouraged to defect on the basis of incentives/extraneous considerations, according to the statement.

“These members were placed in practical detention in the Sindh House with full support of the machinery apparatus of the government of Sindh. Members of this defected group were shown, paraded and allowed to speak on the electronic media. For all practical purposes they were allowed to defect despite of the prohibition contained in Article 63 [A] of the Constitution.

“At this juncture it may be mentioned that this Article was incorporated under the 18th Amendment to the Constitution of Pakistan by the political parties comprising inter alia PML-N and PPP who respectively held the federal and the provincial governments at that time. Having secured the said members of PTI through sheer horse trading, the opposition then focused on breaking up the federal government by winning over the coalition partners of the PTI government through incentives/promises lacking morality. These efforts materialised due to foreign interference and aid as well as assistance given by anti-state elements with and outside Pakistan.

It is in the given factual perspective that a ‘no-confidence resolution’, based on pure conspiracies as detailed herein above was prepared and then moved before the National Assembly. The same was ultimately fixed on 3rd of April for discussion and voting," it said.

“The details of the proceedings held on April 3rd are already available in the official record of the assembly; certain portions thereof are also available in the electronic and print media. Nothing further maybe stated in this regard by the answering Respondent herein.

“After the dismissal of ‘No-confidence resolution’ and adjourned  proceedings of the house, after taking legal advice, the answering Respondent, keeping in view the prevailing circumstances felt that a call to the general public for fresh elections was imperative for the well-being of the state of Pakistan. Thus, on the advice rendered in this regard by the answering Respondent, the President of Pakistan dissolved the National Assembly, for fresh elections so as to provide Pakistan a truly representative democratic elected government,” reads the statement.

“Last but not the least, the dream of the answering Respondent, like all patriotic people of Pakistan, is to purge the state institutions like parliament of all nefarious politicians who have a checkered history. These politicians belonging mostly to the opposition have a horrendous past of corruption, plunder of national wealth, suffer pending criminal prosecutions and trials, are involved in corruption and corrupt practices and have practically made a ‘regulatory capture’ of the noble institution like a parliament,” the prime minister says.

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“The petition moved by the petitioners is not to uphold the rule of law but for ill motivated selfish aims and designs; the intent is to weaken the state of Pakistan by seeking a control of the state institutions. They desire to ensure that political parties like PTI and others may not remain in power or return to power in any way,” he adds.

According to the statement, ever since the inception of this government a number of ill motivated/undemocratic attempts were made by inter alia the opposition within the parliament to cause collapse of the lawfully elected federal government.

“The pivotal personalities, who during this tenure tried to conceive and mobilise these conspiracies are the leaders of the opposition which includes Mian Shahbaz Shareef as the leader of the PML-N, Moulana Fazalur Rehman, the leader of JUI, as well as Bilawal Bhutto Zardari/Asif Ali Zardari as Chairman and Co-Chairman of PPP. These MNAs along with other minor political personalities/parties within the parliament constantly aimed to destabilise the government of PTI.

These ill-conceived, in fact criminal efforts, failed for one reason or the other; the fundamental basis was lack of consensus among the participants thereof, individual motivations and selfish interests; the last but not the least being lack of their appeal to the public at large. Despite repeated attempts, these political parties were/have been unable to muster public support, so is to transform their efforts in a local indigenous opposition viz the democratically elected government headed by the answering Respondent.

“However, it was only during the last few months when a titanic move was made to implement the political vision of the federal government, within the arena of foreign affairs. These included positive remedial measure to end the Afghan war, exit of foreign forces from Afghanistan, the permanent resistance and refusal to provide any foreign bases/assistance to countries who desired hostile/inimical posture towards Afghanistan. Besides the same, cultivation and promotion of friendly relationship with the neighbouring countries, particularly those of the Republic of China and Russia, created hostilities in the international and well as local arena. In this regard, the visit of the answering Respondent to Russia during the initial days of the breakout of war between Russia and Ukraine proved to be an event which ignited adverse attempts with the domestic politics of Pakistan led by the Opposition.

“All of a sudden, the opposition found a new life. This time they mobilised in a manner which was utterly unusual and created concerns within the government circles as well as the security institutions of Pakistan that something was amiss. The opposition on a war footing mobilised extensive negotiations inter se, within and outside Pakistan; they were now constantly contacted by representatives of foreign states who felt that the federal government of Pakistan, headed by the answering Respondent was not in line with their perception of the global affairs. This movement, within days, initiated opposition activities within the parliament and manifested unnatural strength despite the fact that there was no populous support. Newspaper articles, comments by senior journalists/anchors within the electronic print and media as well as on the social network started issuing predictions/assessments that the federal government was to collapse with a short time,” says the statement.