PTI to celebrate SC verdict in public rally, says Imran

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan on Wednesday announced a ‘grand public rally’ here to express solidarity with the judiciary in response to what he called the anti-judiciary drive of ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif and his aides.

Imran vowed to tell Nawaz why he was ousted as the prime minister. Talking to the media after a party meeting, he said that he would hold a grand public rally in Islamabad, the date of which he will announce later, to show that the people of Pakistan stand with the judiciary after the ruling party’s decision to take an offensive line against the judiciary.

Imran alleged that Nawaz was trying to paint himself innocent after robbing the public money and taking looted wealth abroad. He said that Nawaz had weakened the state institutions for personal and political gains.

Talking about the Supreme Court’s verdict on the Panama Papers case, he said, “Nawaz Sharif’s lies have been exposed time and again and those were enough to take him to jail.” He added that the first lie was when the Qatari letter was discovered and the second when Maryam Nawaz’s documents were found to be forged as the Calibri Font did not exist at the stated time.

Imran said he would explain the rationale for Nawaz’s ouster, while referring to his popular slogan ‘Mujhe Kyun Nikala’ Lashing out at the PML-N, he stated that in a bid to safeguard the Sharif family’s corruption, the entire PML-N was hell bent upon undermining the state institutions. “Nawaz Sharif would have been in jail if the institutions were fully functional and bi-partisan” said Imran while adding that failed state institutions would push a country backward.

The chairman PTI said that the Sharifs appointed their favourite officers on top slots of the government departments, particularly in the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to cover their corruption. Imran also attacked Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif and said the Punjab government staged fake 'police encounters'. He said that Shahbaz got several people killed in fake encounters through a former cop Abid Boxer, who was wanted by the police in extrajudicial killings.

The chairman PTI also announced country wide tours for the party membership drive and also vowed to mobilise the masses to strengthen the judiciary’s integrity. “PML-N is now heading for a clash of institutions on the basis of having people’s mandate, I will show them that the public stands with justice, not them,” Imran said.

To a question, the chairman PTI slammed the PML-N government and said that US move to put Pakistan on Financial Action Task Force (FATF) watchlist was a diplomatic failure. “The government’s incompetence has strengthened Narendra Modi’s narrative globally,” he alleged.

To another question, he said that PTI’s parliamentary party will deliberate and suggest names for the caretaker government. Meanwhile, PTI Central Information Secretary Fawad Chaudhry welcomed the SC judgement to disqualify Nawaz as the head of PML-N and termed it a historic decision from all aspects and that the apex court must be appreciated for this. He noted that the apex court had again handed down a disqualification certificate to Nawaz, as PML-N had tried to pollute politics by amending the Constitution to pave way for a disqualified person to head a political party. He added the three-member SC bench had set a principle through its judgement.