The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf stands with the independent judiciary and would thwart any attempt to malign Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry and the Supreme Court, announced PTI chairman Imran Khan in a statement issued on Saturday.
PTI’s central secretary of information Shafqat Mahmood further explained his party’s stance on the Arsalan Iftikhar bribery case during a press conference at the Insaf House on Saturday. He said that the government was trying to malign the superior judiciary of the country.
Mahmood claimed that the ruling government hatched felt threatened by the “independent and courageous” decisions of the Supreme Court, including those in the prime minister’s contempt of court case and the National Reconciliation Ordinance case. “President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani and Riaz Malik are the principal characters of the conspiracy.” While not offering any proofs, Mahmood said that business relations between Riaz Malik and the president were well known. Imran Khan also pointed out in his statement that Malik had acknowledged that he paid for vacations and shopping sprees for Arsalan Iftikhar.
This was done to entrap and blackmail the chief justice’s son and, therefore, to undermine the chief justice’s integrity.
The PTI, however, maintained that the Arsalan Iftikhar case should be thoroughly investigated and Arsalan should be punished if proven guilty. However, the charges against Arsalan should not reflect upon the chief justice.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 10th, 2012.
COMMENTS (42)
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ
It is an eager rather sentimental move on behalf of Imran. He has still not learned to control his impulsiveness. Alas!
It is good to stand for the truth, and by the truth, but in this country every thing is far from the truth. I would advise, in my two cents, for PTI to becareful in their stance lest they have to stand against this judiciary again for truth. It is the same CJ who sat in the front seat of Mr. Aitizaz Ahsan's car during the campaign for his restoration. Now he cannot stand the PPP? if all this is not poilitical then what is it? There were times when the judges were never seen mingling with everyone, everywhere to maintain their objectivity and independence. Now public appearences is the highlight of their lives.
I do not think the judiciary needs crutches of Imran. It can stand on its own.
so IK doesn't mind judiciary's corruption but wants to throw democracy in the bin because of the politicians corruption. never expected any better from PTI :)
@Sky: iYa Khuda, you call these players innocent.
Imran Khan you lost my vote today. Sorry, I can't trust IK to run Pakistan if he has no qualms about supporting greed in its ugliest form. I'm switching my allegiance to Musharraf from today.
PTI: Food for thought,
Do not get emotional and wait for the actual facts and truth. Lets not undermine anyone. Stay professional. Thanks
Thank You PTI for once again proving that you are still an immature party- Best Wishes for elections 2054! ;)
What conspiracy? If there is a conspiracy against the Cj, then that is hatched by none other than his own son. He is the one who allegedly took favours and money from the business tycoon and by others in the telecom business. It is the CJ's own family members who enjoyed those luxurious foreign trips. It is the CJ himself who looked the other way when it was all happening. It is the group of four journalists who are considered to be most close to the CJ -Shaheen Sehbai, Ansar Abbasi, Shahid Masood, and Kamran Khan- who broke this story to the public. It is the PMLN and PTI politicians who are otherwise considered to be the most ardent supporters of the CJ who first spoke publicly about it. It is simply ridiculous to say that the PPP is behind this scandal. There is no conspiracy against the CJ and his family as they themselves and their greed is responsible for this state of affairs.
@Paindoon: Imran Khan and truth - doesn't go together, never has - ever since his cricketing days, his ball tampering days, his betting on our cricket matches, his gambling days .... the less said the better.
This is one of those things where it's better to speak as an individual rather than in the name of a political group. Such as: Imran Khan says ... Rather than PTI says ... As it's not bad at all for people to have personal opinions of what's going on. But, a political group automatically politicizes the judiciary further. Since they're doing it with voters in mind, subtle or otherwise, it will catch the oppositions attention and then cause them to get in on it and so on. It also ends up completely derailing the point if it goes that far.
Imran Khan's stance in respect of the allegation of corruption against Arsalan Ifthikar is praiseworthy.He wants the charges to be thoroughly investigated and if Arsalan is found guilty of the allegations he be punished irrespective of the fact that he is the son of Chief Justice of Pakistan.The fact is that the PPP leadership which has suffered immensely by the rulings given on various cases by the Supreme Court,is determined to malign the Chief Justice and the Supreme Court.Their grudge against the Chief Justice is that he has been meting out justice without fear or favour He is being targeted by bringing in allegations against his son.
What a joke Imran’s response is. He accepts the need to investigate Arsalan and yet still blame it on PPP. Talk about contradictions. Imran has PPP-phobia. He is just too desperate to become PM.
PTI is disappointing the masses and people are fed up their so-called tsunami March and fake slogans. On loadsheding PTI is a silent spectator. When the people like Ibrar ul Haq will be the leader of youth, what can we expect. Imran Khan has been trapped. No policies. The people like me are changing their mind again and looking to vote for PML-N.
PTI- Please wake up. People are not going to support you for getting in the way fort fair inquiry. When someone is getting graft, it is foolish argument to accuse others for trapping him.
Judiciary does not need Imran's support. By the way, who is he? He has no representation in parliament. He is not a business tycoon nor a media anchor. Is he afraid that like Dr. Arsalan, his sponsord visits to foreign countries will be exposed too? Can anyone tell that without any reasonable source of income, how can he live a luxurious life?
This is nothing but to put the judiciary under control. We people should focus on our country economics and development. I would corroborate the stance of PTI. People must now clearly ostracize the hypocrites and consider the one who is there above his personal gain. In the next general election *Vote for pakistan .*
Pakistan Zindabad :)
This spokesman of PTI has always been in favour of military rule throughout his career. This is no secret in political circles. Its quite funny to see pti trolls respecting him as he was a very well reputed and sane politician. This guy doesn't have a personality at all nor does he have principles. But thats fine to the trolls as long as he is in pti. I cant even think of getting ruled by people like Shafqat Mehmood. He is just a opportunist. Shame on IK for including these kind of people in the party and even giving them main party posts. Such double standards of pti are making neutral voters think again about who to vote for next time. May god save this country from these hypocrites.
@Expatriate: imran khan nstays at his ex-wife mothers house he has said this several times on interviews watch newsbeat with fareha idrees the latest 1 with ik in it
@Ashraf P: dont be a paindoo. did u not hear what rauf klasra said yesterday: CJ was given the option to resign or take back all the cases against MR.He refused so his Achilles heel (Arsalan) was brought to the fore. if AI is guilty, he should be taken to task and not the CJ. So IK is right to jump to CJ defence. Hence, proven.
Conclusions based on logic prevail because they are likely to be closer to the truth. On the contrary conclusion based on subscribed motives may be a good starting point for an investigation but rarely establish the truth.
Will the spokesperson of PTI explain what are implied and explicit meanings of the statements attributed to accused and his dad; 1. Father is not responsible for the acts of his son. 2. I visited London with my family and stayed in flat during 2009,2010 and 2011. London is amongst top five expensive cities of the world.How on earth a working person can afford holidays every year in a city like London?
Again , very late off the mark and trying to play catch up to PML N
@Paindoon: Only Imran Khan of PTI (not Imran Khan Indian Actor) knows the truth, rest of the world is stupid.
A balanced analysis in Dawn's editorial today, may be some of the zealots would care to read...as i was wondering can we argue and support for a saner cause? http://dawn.com/2012/06/10/a-commission-is-needed/
@Ashraf P: You might want to read the news clip again. That's what PTI is saying as well that if Arsalan is at fault, he should be brought to justice. Am I missing something?
If Arslan was indeed paid and entertained, it was to buy favour and influence over his father or to malign his name; However there is no allegation against the CJ; the court has to get to the bottom of this as it is an attempt to subvert justice; The guilty must be punished. CJ is held in high esteem for his decisions to date regarding this matter.
@Ashraf P: From the Article: The PTI, however, maintained that the Arsalan Iftikhar case should be thoroughly investigated and Arsalan should be punished if proven guilty. However, the charges against Arsalan should not reflect upon the chief justice. and the press release: http://insaf.pk/News/tabid/60/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/11706/Chairman-Imran-Khan-calls-Arsalan-Iftikhar-Case-a-conspiracy-against-independent-judiciary.aspx Ik has been wrong but not in this caseyour point of view and his is the same. And essentially correct.
So much suport from politicianz? Does CJ need it?
@ishaq: Agree, it's "over politicised" and is behaving like corrupt politicians, still wishes to be respected @Paindoon: Yeah, it takes a 'paindoo' simplisity to thank someone who is mainly responsible for politocising the judiciary for his political designs. @Nadir: What about Malik Riaz links with PTI and its so called 'Jalsa'? What about Hamid Khan and Malik Riaz connection?
So the race is on between PML-N and PTI to win the sympathisers of CJ!! PML-N was quicker in announcing its decision, though!!
Mr Khan: People live without electricity for most part of the day in the cruel summer weather. They are being crushed everyday by the soaring prices. The youth are unemployed, people are struggling to make the ends meet. DO YOU REALLY THINK THEY CARE IF SOMEONE IS TRYING MALIGN THE CHIEF JUSTICE.
@Paindoon: The truth is that the CJ is a clean and decent man. That does not make every one in his family the same too. Get real. Justice for all is what will make Pakistan a good nation. IK is wrong. If Arsalan is innocent, let the courts decide.
Reminds me of news of the world and pakistan cricket Fiasco. How the Pakistani players were set up to take bribes by the news paper. But who won?
The players with all their "innocence" we're jailed which the paper cont. to publish ( until recently , was banned for anther controversy )
My point. Even if some one is trying to set up Dr. Arsalan . He is an adult and should know and understand his position. He should remember the turmoil pakistan and Musharraf went through in past of alleged allegations against him.
disclaimer. I am a die heart PTI fan but believe in fair judiciary even if the verdict is against the CJ or his family. No one is above law.
Good move
Thank you Imran Khan and PTI for standing with truth again.
What about Malik Riaz's business links with the Army? Doesn't that suggest something or only his links with politicians are worthy of insights? Afterall, a part of Bahria Town is marketed as DHA!!