Country’s enemy being given preferential treatment by judiciary, alleges Sharjeel

After summoning Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan, the Supreme Court gave a preferential treatment to him.

Sindh Information and Transport Minister Sharjeel Memon stated this on Friday while speaking in the Sindh Assembly. He said Khan was being treated as a favourite individual and ‘Ladla’, and was housed in a police rest house instead of a jail.

“Where is it written in the constitution that Asif Ali Zardari, Faryal Talpur and Siraj Durrani should be taken in an armoured vehicle while Imran Khan in a Mercedes?” he asked. He continued to ask where in the Constitution it was written that a person on remand could be called to court.

“What is this law, and what message is being given to the world? The constitution says that everyone in the country should be treated equally,” Memon remarked.

He also expressed wonder at the chief justice of the Supreme Court of Pakistan saying to Khan that he was pleased to see him. He said that as this all happened in the Supreme Court, it was a dangerous situation as it seemed that the constitution of the country had been shattered.

Memon said that an audio leak came before the verdict and exactly those things happened which had been narrated in that audio leak. He added that a person who was an enemy of the country was being prosecuted but he was being kept in a police guest house instead of jail.

The information minister said a leader belonging to Sindh, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, was hanged and the apex court did not have time to hear his case for 11 years, but the same court had time for an anti-state person.

He lamented that if the current trend continued, people would lose their confidence in the judiciary. Memon said it could not be tolerated that the courts, which did not have time to hear the case of the late Bhutto, had time to grant privileges to a person who was threatening the state institutions.

He added that Khan had confessed to committing corruption of billions of rupees, and members of his cabinet had admitted that they were made to sign sealed envelopes.

Former chief justice Saqib Nisar could not go out of his house today due to his decisions, Memon said. He asked if judges were so passionate about political affairs, why they did not announce joining a political party.

No leader of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) was an absconder, the information minister said, adding that PPP leaders were present in their country and facing the cases registered against them with courage. He said the PPP would continue to work for strengthening democracy.

Question hour

Speaking in the legislature during the question hour, Memon announced that the miscreants who were involved in damaging buses of the Peoples Bus Service in recent acts of violence in Karachi would have to pay damages for vandalism.

He told the lawmakers that the Sindh government would not give any concession to those involved in vandalism and arson attacks in Karachi on May 9 after the arrest of Khan in Islamabad.

The transport minister said he was saddened that the miscreants had damaged buses that were recently imported to ply in Karachi. He added that a bus was also set on fire by PTI miscreants.

He explained that it was not an easy task to import public buses for facilitating commuters in Karachi. The violent protestors belonging to the PTI would have to pay the price for resorting to vandalism, he added.

He told the Sindh Assembly that the provincial cabinet had deferred the summary moved by the transport department to increase the fares of the Peoples Bus Service due to a phenomenal increase in the prices of petroleum products.

The Sindh government had been spending millions of rupees as a subsidy to ensure that there was no increase in the fares of the People’s Bus Service, he added. He announced that the Peoples Bus Service would be launched in every district of Sindh.

He also suggested that the fine should be raised to Rs50,000 if anyone violated the traffic signal. He said such stringent laws were required for better traffic situation on the roads.

He said that any driver involved in a fatal traffic accident who did not have a driving licence should be charged with manslaughter.

Memon alleged that the leader of the opposition in the Sindh Assembly, the PTI’s Haleem Adil Sheikh, was involved in the illegal occupation of 50 acres of land of the transport department.

He alleged that the opposition leader had built cattle pens on the land of the transport department. He suggested that a committee comprising members of the House be formed to transparently probe into the allegations against the leader of the opposition. He proposed that Grand Democratic Alliance MPA Nand Kumar head that probe committee.