ANP asks CJP to take notice of alleged audiotape leak

PESHAWAR: Awami National Party (ANP) central secretary general Mian Iftikhar Hussain has said the chief justice of Pakistan should take notice of the alleged audiotape leak of former chief justice Saqib Nisar and deal with the issue as per the law.

Addressing a news conference at the Bacha Khan Markaz on Monday, he said the alleged leaked conversation of former chief justice had exposed the pre-poll rigging by helping a puppet to assume power as prime minister before the 2018 general elections in the country.

“A judge who had declared a politician Sadiq (truthful) and Amin (honest) in his judgement has been exposed to the public in his audiotape in which he says that Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam Nawaz must be punished before the general elections,” Mian Iftikhar alleged. He said all the state institutions must remain within constitutional domains and those elements must be exposed to the nation who had played with the democratic institutions.

“The incumbent chief justice of Pakistan must take notice of the audiotape leak being attributed to former chief justice Saqib Nisar as such dictates and remarks are a stigma for the independent judiciary,” the ANP leader said.

Mian Iftikhar said the present government and establishment were playing a dirty trick on the existing system in Pakistan. The ANP leader said the country had been left at the mercy of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) due to the failed economic policies of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government and even the State Bank of Pakistan has lost freedom and authority.

“The country is being run by the people of IMF as more taxes have been levied on the essential items and services,” he said and added that the government had no control over the skyrocketing prices of edible items.

About the local government elections in 17 districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the ANP leader said his party was fully prepared for that and had finalized candidates for the tehsil council and village councils seats.

“However, the ruling PTI is running away from the elections and has challenged the decision on holding the polls on party basis in the Supreme Court to delay the polls on different pretexts,” he said and alleged that the PTI had no candidates for the local body polls in the province. To a question, Mian Iftikhar Hussain said the ANP was part of combined opposition in the Parliament.

He said the ruling alliance had suspended the joint session of the Parliament due to the unity of opposition parties and then pressurized its allies and some lawmakers to support the government in its legislation during the joint session.

On this occasion, a local leader of Jamaat-e-Islami in Lower Dir, Abdur Rehman, quit his party and joined the ANP along with family members and friends.