Ahsan Iqbal suggests court to send contempt notice to sit-in leaders as well
I requested the honourable judge to issue a contempt of court notice to them as well, says Iqbal
LAHORE: (Dunya News) – Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal has on Monday suggested Islamabad High Court (IHC) to send contempt notice to those as well who had been abusing the courts for the last several days and demand a response from them, reported Dunya News.
Talking to Dunya News on program Nuqta-e-Nazar, Ahsan Iqbal said that the government didn’t want to use force in this scenario but the decision by the court forced the government to do so. “I stopped the administration from taking the action because the government felt that use of force could worsen the situation but then the court issued a contempt of court notice for me and ordered us to take action immediately. I must say that our honourable courts should provide space to the executive and let us make a better decision keeping the ground realities under consideration”, he said.
Ahsan Iqbal said that the resignation of former Federal Law Minister Zahid Hamid was his personal decision. Responding to the question why it took government so long to demand the resignation, Iqbal said that the government couldn’t make him a scapegoat just because it needed a political sacrifice to appease a bunch of people.
“When an honourable member says that he believed in the finality of the prophet and that there was no dishonesty on his part, how could the government ask for his resignation without any proof against him whatsoever”.
Dismissing the comparisons with the cases of Pervaiz Rashid and Mushahidullah Khan, Ahsan Iqbal said that those resignations were demanded on political issues while this one had a clear religious dimension to it.
Deaths in Islamabad operation
Ahsan Iqbal said that the initial reports about the deaths confirmed that the deaths had nothing to do with the operation because the police and Frontier Constabulary were completely unarmed under the orders of the high court.
“It is shocking for me even how these people died. However, the event took place in Punjab government’s jurisdiction and a committee will be formed by the provincial government to investigate the causes of these deaths as soon as possible, I hope”.
Rift with Chaudhry Nisar
Ahsan Iqbal said that he had no rifts with former Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan. “I directed even Interior Secretary to ask him if he needed any support from our ministry. He is my senior and I only have respect for him. I never said that people had died in firing from his house. I had only said that firing was reported when his home was attacked and that we needed to investigate it”, he said.
‘Protesters had teargas shells and precision to cut down cables of Safe City cameras’
Ahsan Iqbal expressed shock over the equipment available with the protesters. “They had teargas shells. This has never happened in Pakistan. Only law-enforcing agencies could own teargas shells under the law. Nobody sells these shells. We are inquiring how these people got hold of this equipment”, he said.
“They had the precision to cut down cables of four main Safe City cameras the day we started spotting the armed men among the protesters. A common man couldn’t do it. This is a work of acute precision and it proves how trained the people in their ranks were”.
