The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) Sindh leaders on Saturday demanded a judicial commission headed by a judge of the Supreme Court to investigate into Lettergate in the presence of media and keeping its proceedings open.
The demand was made while addressing a gathering of lawyers at the Malir Bar Association on Saturday. The address was led by provincial assembly opposition leader Haleem Adil Sheikh.
“The entire nation has been demanding fresh elections,” said Sheikh. “Free and fair elections is the only solution to the current situation, but an alliance of 12 parties is afraid of elections because the case is now in the people’s court, which will decide the country’s fate.”
He said that lawyers had played an important role in the Pakistan Movement, adding that the Founder of the Nation, Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, was also a lawyer.
The PTI leader said that the then dictator General Pervez Musharraf had pushed Pakistan into the US war on Afghanistan, but lawyers got rid of him by struggle. “Now it’s not just a movement of the PTI, but it has become a people’s revolution.”
He claimed that during Asif Ali Zardari and Nawaz Sharif’s respective eras, over 400 drone strikes had been carried out on Pakistani soil, and that their legs used to start trembling over a phone call.
“In the past, offensive caricatures were issued worldwide, but no one dared to speak on the issues of Namoos-e-Risalat and Islam, but Imran Khan is the first leader who effectively raised the issues at international forums, particularly before the United Nations.”
Sheikh said that as a result of the US-Afghanistan war, Pakistan had lost 800,000 civilians and soldiers. He said that there was a lack of faith in the rulers of that time who had become slaves of the US, even though they did not know that 220 million Pakistanis were standing with the army.
“If we hadn’t joined the US war on Afghanistan, we wouldn’t have suffered so much. Why did America run away from Afghanistan? They wanted to massacre Muslims, but Imran Khan was the only leader who protested against drone attacks.”
He said that during the Pakistan Movement, the people had thrown out the whites, and today another freedom movement is going on, so once again we will get rid of the whites.
He also said that today there is a debate whether it was a conspiracy or an interference, but the nation will decide if it was a conspiracy or if it was an interference.
“The whole nation has come out in favour of Imran Khan, while the National Security Committee has proven foreign intervention and the stance of PTI as factual. In the past they might have received such threats, but this time it was Imran Khan who took a courageous stand.”
He claimed that the US wanted to make a deal with Khan but the then prime minister had replied with “absolutely not” when asked for allowing bases in Pakistan.
He said that Khan had an independent foreign policy, adding that the only superpower is the Almighty Allah, so we are not afraid of any other power.
The PTI leader said that a protest was held outside the Sindh House against the horse-trading taking place inside the building. “But notice was taken only on the issue of the protest at the gate. No one took notice of the horse-trading inside the Sindh House, where the taxes of Sindh’s people were being squandered.”
On the occasion, senior lawyer Rehman Dino Mahesar announced joining the PTI. Malir Bar Association President Advocate Abdul Razzaq Solangi, Insaf Lawyers Forum Sindh President Advocate Riaz Affandi and other lawyers also spoke at the event.