PTI to move SC against Sharifs' acquittal in graft cases

Fawad says top court should reopen cases against PM Shehbaz, Maryam and Hamza

LAHORE:

The PTI on Thursday announced that it would approach the Supreme Court against the acquittal of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, his niece PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz, son ex-Punjab CM Hamza Shehbaz and others in corruption cases.

“PTI has decided to file an application in the top court under Article 184 against the bail and acquittal of the Sharif family in various cases,” PTI leader Fawad Chaudhry said during a media talk in Lahore, accompanied by former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi.

“The court has taken a suo motu notice and we want to become a part of the case,” he added.

Claiming that the Sharif family had robbed the national exchequer several times, Fawad demanded that the cases against PM Shehbaz, Maryam and Hamza should be reopened and the top court should review the decisions.

He urged the SC to hear these cases at the same pace it had heard against former prime minister Imran Khan about his disqualification.

Speaking on the occasion, Qureshi said the PTI had handed over 123 resignations to the then-acting speaker of the National Assembly, Qasim Suri, in April.

However, he added that current NA speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf had showed “favouritism” on the government’s request and only accepted the resignations of 11 PTI MNAs.

“If you [Ashraf] wanted to accept [the resignations], you should have accepted all of them or you shouldn’t have accepted a single one. Despite this, PDM [Pakistan Democratic Movement] candidates were defeated in these constituencies and we bagged 75% of the seats,” he continued.

The former foreign minister said the PTI had decided to quit from the assemblies and he, in his capacity as its vice chairman, had written a letter to the NA speaker to agree on a time in the coming week for the verification of the resignations of the party members.

Fawad said the PTI had announced its resignations from NA seats and they should be accepted so that general elections could be held as soon as possible.

“Assemblies will be dissolved in any case, whether on December 17 or 23. The date will be decided by Imran Khan,” he added.

The former information minister said after the dissolution of two provincial assemblies, 70% of the country would go into election mode.

He maintained that general elections were the need of the hour as the country was heading towards “destruction” under the present government’s rule.

Fawad said the PTI had appealed to all the “respectable circles” of the country for elections.

“It is common knowledge where interference is happening in politics and where it is not,” he claimed.

The PTI leader said that there were high hopes from the new leadership of the armed forces to take Pakistan towards stability.

"We hope that all institutions would play a role in taking Pakistan towards stability," he added.

To a question, Qureshi said the government was not at all serious about negotiations and wanted to escape elections.

“They [current rulers] only want complete relief in the cases against them. Some of their cases are closed and some are pending. Until all the cases are over, the government will neither want elections, nor the dissolution of the assemblies,” he maintained.