LAHORE: Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) Central Secretary General Ahsan Iqbal has said the presidential ordinance and filing reference in the Supreme Court for open voting in the upcoming Senate elections were only attempts by Prime Minister Imran Khan to curb rebellion in his party. Talking to the media along with other party leaders outside the Judicial Complex here on Tuesday, he said the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf was wrongly giving an impression that the show-of-hand for Senate polls were aimed at bringing transparency and reforming the election process.
He said the PML-N had decided to challenge the presidential ordinance, saying the issuance of an ordinance in the absence of two-thirds majority was an insane move.
Ahsan said the government was trying to put pressure on the court through the presidential ordinance for open ballot in the Senate elections. “Imran Niazi wants to bring his friends in the Senate; people will not be deceived by him, and Pakistan’s Constitution cannot be changed for the friends of Imran Khan,” he added.
During the Senate chairman election, Imran Khan himself supervised the horse-trading process, Ahsan said, adding that he (Imran Khan) was feeling danger of losing his party members in the Senate election. “The government wants to make the Senate elections controversial, but the PML-N is going to become party in the Supreme Court on the issue,” Ahsan announced, adding any dispute can lead to a political crisis.
Ahsan hoped the court would return the presidential reference. He said that if the government would make the open balloting in the Senate part of a comprehensive electoral reform package, then it could be discussed.
Commenting on the statement of the Pakistan Army’s spokesman, he said that every party believed that the army should not interfere in politics. He said the country’s past had been very bitter on that count. Ahsan declared that the PML-N had no backdoor contacts with anyone. Ahsan said the government was being run through spokespersons and the social media.
Answering a question, he said that during the past three years, the government failed to prove a single case of corruption against any opposition leader.
Ahsan said that despite keeping the PML-N leadership in jails, no corruption could be proved. “We worked honestly and created CPEC [China-Pakistan Economic Corridor], fulfilled the election promises of economic development, and ended terrorism and loadshedding,” he claimed. About the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) long march, he said March 26 would be a milestone. He said 10 democratic parties would start a march from all four provinces, which would include people from all walks of life.
“It is time to put the country on the path of Constitution and law,” he said.
Separately, former information minister and Central Secretary Information Marriyum Aurangzeb said that no institution had been dragged into politics and no institution was allowed to interfere in politics.
“Despite using every state resource, Imran Khan has failed to prove a single case of corruption against the opposition during the last two-and-a-half years,” Marriyum said adding the imposition of the current rulers on the country had polluted the economy. She said the general public now clearly knows who the real Sicilian mafia was. “The Sicilian mafia steals flour, sugar and medicines, Sicilian mafia is the one who collected foreign funding from India and Israel and Sicilian mafia is the one who committed open fraud in LNG and increased prices of gas, electricity and petrol,” she added.
Marriyum said that Imran Khan kept his opponents in jail, sold out Kashmir secretly and gave missed calls to Modi. She said the PML-N leaders were imprisoned for asking questions. She said this was called the mafia rule.
She said that Saifullah Niazi was running for the Senate seat; the posts were being given to ‘friends of Banigala’. She said the PTI lawyer admitted that foreign funds were received in private accounts in the names of four employees.
