To support enemy rhetoric: Some PDM leaders attacking institutions

ISLAMABAD: Terming Supreme Court the most appropriate forum for interpretation of the Constitution, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi Tuesday said the government would respect its guidance on the matter of open ballot in the Senate election.

In a statement, he said the government had only two options: one, to approach court for a constitutional interpretation; two to amend the Constitution, for which it lacked two-thirds majority.

Commenting on the current political situation in the country, Qureshi said Pakistan People’s Party and Pakistan Muslim League-N always bluffed about democracy and demanded open voting, but were now deviating from their claims.

“The opposition still wants to protect continuity of corrupt practices. The interests of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) differ with their politics,” he said. He said the government had invited the opposition for talks and gave them a chance in accordance with the Charter of Democracy (CoD).

Qureshi said Director General Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) had made it clear that the army should not be dragged into politics and also stressed that the institution was fulfilling its constitutional and legal responsibilities.

He said the army was fighting terrorists on the western border, countering miscreants in Balochistan and facing daily ceasefire violations on the eastern front besides assisting the government in handling coronavirus challenge.

He said some elements affiliated with the PDM were supporting the enemy’s rhetoric by unnecessarily criticizing the institutions.

On a recent United Nations’ Monitoring Report, he said, Pakistan’s stance had been validated at the international level.

The foreign minister said Pakistan was playing its role in highlighting the atrocities being faced by Kashmiris under continuous siege for the last 18 months.

He said the sacrifices of Kashmiri freedom fighters, including Afzal Guru, would not go in vain and Kashmiris would get their right to self-determination.

On the missing mountaineers of K-2 expedition, he said the government and army were making every effort to search for the climbers.

Qureshi said he had spoken to his Iceland counterpart and updated him on the search operation.

Expressing dismay over the rampage by lawyers at the Islamabad High Court on Monday, he said the situation would put a negative mark on the prestige of the bar.

“Lawyers must have taken the legal course to express their views. Now, senior lawyers should come forward to ease tension,” he said.