New Constitution will have to be written to knock out Imran: Asad

LAHORE: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Asad Umar Wednesday said a new constitution will have to be written to politically knock out the party chief Imran Khan.

Addressing a press conference here, Asad said the arrest of PTI leader Shahbaz Gill emerged as a response to the electoral victory of his party in the Punjab by-elections, which was illegal.

He said the people of Punjab rejected the ‘imported’ government and chose the PTI in the election for the chief minister.

Asad said FIRs were registered against those who had been raising voice against the government and the government will continue to do it as it was in a panic mode. He said Shahbaz Gill was beaten while being taken into custody and added that the current government was trying make a big case against PTI. He said a narrative of spat between the army and PTI had been built.

Asad said a warrant was issued before the arrest, while a case was being made that the PTI was a threat to the country. “You may disagree with what Shahbaz Gill said, but the use of force is not appropriate,” he said. He said a true leader stood up against the conspiracy of the closed rooms.

Asad said the coalition government was hatching a conspiracy to create a rift between the PTI and institutions. He said the PTI was moving to the Islamabad High Court against the decision of Election Commission.

To a question about Shahbaz Gill, he said Gill had the right to defend his case. He said PTI had a clear policy towards the Pakistan Army, which was above anyone, including Imran Khan.

He said the PMLN supermo Nawaz Sharif issued quite controversial statements against the army but neither he was arrested nor his car windows were broken.

He said army was the need of the nation first and then came persons whether it was Imran or anyone else.

Asad said the army was as important for Pakistan as democracy adding that the need of the hour was to take steps aimed at stopping the people from targeting the institution.

Talking about the Election Commission of Pakistan’s decision, he said the report presented by the ECP carried flaws and underscored four main points, showing imperfection of the report in the PTI funding case.

Firstly, Asad said the report presented fake information about the fund donors and maintained that the raisers themselves surfaced and provided all mandatory information regarding the funds.

He said two fundraising events were held and all the funds gathered by the overseas Pakistanis were shown in the name of Arif Naqvi.

Secondly, he said the interpretation of the law carried out by the ECP was erroneous. Thirdly, the commission exercised its power beyond limits while announcing the verdict.