KP govt slams move to try PTI leaders for treason

PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government on Tuesday came down hard on the federal government for calls to try the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leaders for treason.

In a statement, the KP government spokesman Barrister Muhammad Ali Saif said those who themselves were involved in treason wanted the PTI leaders tried under Article 6 of the Constitution.

Barrister Saif, who is also the adviser to the chief minister on information and public relations, said the last general elections of February 8, this year, had proved who were traitors and who were patriots.

“The February 8 general elections proved that the PTI was the most popular political party and its head, Imran Khan, was the most popular leader in the country,” he asserted.

The KP cabinet member was critical of the move by the federal government which a day earlier had called for putting the PTI leaders on trial for treason.

“Strangely, those who stormed the Supreme Court building in the past and were behind the Dawn Leaks are calling for the trial of the PTI leaders under Article 6 of the Constitution,” he added.

Barrister Saif said instead of PTI leaders, the members of the Sharif family and the chief election commissioner deserved to be tried under Article 6 of the Constitution.

He said the federal government had been unnerved by the Supreme Court’s recent verdict that entitled the PTI to the seats reserved in the legislative assemblies for women and minorities.

The KP government spokesman said the federal government would bite the dust over the move to ban the PTI and put the party leaders on trial under Article 6 of the Constitution.

Barrister Said alleged that the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz was facing an internal rift. “Nawaz Sharif and Maryam Nawaz want to send the Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif government packing,” he alleged.