Judicial commission: Imran renews threat of street protests

Says govt has backtracked several times from commitment

ISLAMABAD:

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan has once again threatened the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) led government that his party will take to the streets if an independent judicial commission is not formed to probe into allegations of rigging in the May 2013 general elections.

“When we will come out on the streets this time, it will become difficult for the government to rule,” Imran told a press conference on Thursday, adding: “The PTI core committee will consider issuing a deadline to the government.”

Imran said the government did not want to constitute the judicial commission and had backtracked several times from its commitments. “The government neither constitutes a commission nor rejects our demand,” he added.

The PTI chief asked as to why the government was afraid of constituting a judicial commission when his party had no hesitation in forming a similar judicial commission in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) – where the PTI is in power.

Responding to a question about military courts, Imran said: “We are not in favour of the military courts but supported their establishment so that no one could say that we are creating hurdles in the fight against terrorism.”

The PTI had called off its 126-day sit-in and protest campaign following the December 16 terror attack on a school in Peshawar. “Despite our workers’ reservations, we wrapped up our movement which was picking up momentum,” he added.  He also announced that PTI will approach Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) against the ‘undue delay’ in election tribunals’ verdict. The tribunals, hearing election related petitions, were supposed to decide cases within four months after the elections.

During the press conference, Imran Khan hit out hard at the ruling PML-N and the Sharif family for ‘making Punjab a police state’.  He said 25,000 political appointments were made in Punjab police, adding that these political hiring had ruined the law and order situation in the province.  Imran claimed that an employee of Ramzan Sugar Mills – a company owned by Sharif family –was put behind bars along with his wife and children without any crime. “And later the police said they had done so on the orders of ‘Prince Salman Shahbaz’, son of Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif,” he said.

The PTI chairman criticised Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif over declaration of his assets. “How come Nawaz Sharif’s assets increased four times during last four years?”

He said the Sharif family had no business outside the country 20 years back but now the PM’s son owns a business worth Rs200 billion. “The question is how and from where did Hussain Sharif get the money?” he said.


Published in The Express Tribune, January 30^th, 2015.