PTI indecisive over inclusion of former CJ’s name among witnesses

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaaf (PTI) appears indecisive over the inclusion of former chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry’s name in the witnesses list, Imran’s tirade against the former CJP for being part of ‘systematic rigging’ notwithstanding.
The legal team of PTI headed by Abdul Hafeez Pirzada has submitted the preliminary list of 13 witnesses in the Judicial Commission, which surprisingly does not contain the name of former chief justice.
Talking to The News, Ishaq Khakwani, convener of the task force constituted by Imran Khan, said the legal team of PTI has prepared the list of witnesses but “this is not a final list as the commission has permitted every party to submit evidence and witnesses anytime. Therefore there is no time embargo and when the legal team and party leadership would decide any name could be submitted before the judicial commission.”
Asked why PTI has not included the former CJ’s name in the preliminary list Mr. Khakwani said the list could be updated anytime on the basis of evidence. The News also contacted party spokesperson Dr. Shereen Mazari to know what would be the possible written reply of PTI, which it has to submit before the commission on April 27. Dr. Mazari said that the task force constituted by the party chairman is working on it.
“However we have finalised our strategy about submitting evidence before the commission and the party leadership is categorizing it which would be submitted phase-wise. We have sufficient evidence to prove rigging in the general elections 2013 and now it would be the responsibility of PML-N to prove that it was not involved in rigging,” commented Dr. Mazari.
When asked why former chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry’s name is not included in the list, she said this is just a preliminary list which could be updated however it would be decided by the task force of the party and the legal team whether to included his name or not.
Earlier during the hearing, the judicial commission has sought written replies from the ruling PML-N and PTI. The commission has asked PTI to submit its reply whether any individual was involved in the rigging or there were many people involved in this rigging. The PTI lawyer in his argument said the victory speech of Nawaz Sharif at 11 pm when the elections results were being compiled is the biggest evidence. However the court rejected it as evidence of rigging. The court has also sought written reply from PTI to prove whether it was systematic rigging or not.