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PTI lawmaker asks politicians to stop playing ‘political victimisation card’

By Our Correspondent
July 05, 2019

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) MPA Khurrum Sher Zaman has called on all politicians to stop playing the “political victimisation card” when they are charged or arrested.

The former PTI Karachi president said the rule of law has suffered for decades in the country, as the ruling elite has evaded justice due to their wealth or status.

“The time has come to put an end to the political victimisation card that most politicians of every political stripe have played to excuse alleged criminal behaviour,” said the MPA from PS-110.

He reminded the politicians that they are not living under a dictatorship but under a democratic rule. He said that being a politician and an elected office-holder at any level does not give a licence or privilege to commit crime or exemption from the criminal justice process.

Zaman said that their main objective as an elected office-holder is to serve the people, not loot the public treasury. “It confounds me each time I hear the opposition politicians blame Prime Minister Imran Khan and the PTI government for being charged or arrested when most of the cases they are being charged or arrested for were from probes done by past governments.”

The MPA pointed out that when institutions like the National Accountability Bureau were not active in pursuing high-profile cases of politicians, the same politicians who were ranting now in public had no complaints about the state institutions and law enforcement, but as soon as they were charged or arrested, all of them had changed their tune.

He found it amusing that politicians giving fiery speeches and comments inside and outside the parliament suddenly have health issues when they are arrested. “I suggest the Election Commission of Pakistan should include health certificates for all candidates vying for elected offices, as good health should be a requirement.”

He said why there is a rush to judgment among the opposition parties and certain segments of the media when a politician is arrested, as if they are trying to portray the state institution and the law enforcement and investigation agencies in bad light. “Let the judicial process decide their innocence or guilt.”