PML-N warns against projecting the 'favourite' PTI ex-chairman as 'innocent'
Pakistan
Says they aren’t greeted with ‘good to see you’, dictators not alone in trampling Constitution
LAHORE (Web Desk) – PML-N Spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb on Saturday questioned the practice of presenting the PTI chairman as a “favourite” and “innocent” whenever liked, as she expressed her party’s reservations after the Supreme Court judges passed remarks while giving bail to him and Shah Mehmood Qureshi in the cipher case a day earlier.
She warned against issuing “innocence certificates” to one who had trampled the Constitution and said the people would decide about their future by exercising the right to vote in the upcoming general elections on Feb 8.
The issuance of innocence certificates doesn’t change the facts, Marriyum said at a press conference and added that an unsuccessful attempt was being made to save and impose the PTI founding chairman yet again.
جس شخص نے سائفر کا لفافہ نکالا , آئین توڑا , قومی اسمبلی , توڑی , اپنے وزراء کے ذریعے آئین تڑوایا , وزیر قانون کے ذریعے آئین تڑوایا , اسپکیرز سے آئین کی خلاف ورزی کرائی , کیا یہ معصوم ہے؟ترجمان مسلم لیگ (ن) مریم اورنگزیب pic.twitter.com/MaP8Hvx6Eq
— PMLN (@pmln_org) December 23, 2023
The PTI founding chairman was imposed on the country and the people by projecting him as a “favourite” in 2018 and as an “innocent” in 2014, which won’t be allowed, the PML-N leader made it clear.
Marriyum reminded the audience that the PTI former chairman was the one who had arrived at the Supreme Court in a Mercedes and was welcomed by the then chief justice with greetings like “good to see you”.
The PML-N spokesperson wondered how the person involved in the cipher saga who had damaged Pakistan’s foreign relations and orchestrated the May 9 attacks on state institutions could be declared innocent.
Marriyum remarked that they had every right to accept or reject the judgment and said they were not among greeted with “good to see you” at the country’s top court, as she recalled how Nawaz Sharif – the three-time prime minister – was removed from office on frivolous charges and labelled as “Sicilian mafia” in the insulting remarks written in the Supreme Court verdict.
ONLY DICTATORS DON NOT VIOLATE THE CONSTITUTION
Malik Ahmad Khan said the cipher episode had been used for political purposes, including the unconstitutional dissolution of National Assembly and speeches delivered at public gatherings.
The senior PML-N leader, who was accompanied by Azma Bokhari, party’s Punjab chapter spokesperson, said the remarks and observations given while granting bail to the PTI founding chairman and former foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi in the case – had raised some serious questions.
While expressing their respect for the judiciary, he told a press conference earlier in the day held at the PML-N headquarters in Model Town that the Supreme Court had noted the Official Secrets Act didn’t apply to the matter, despite the fact that the PTI had used the cipher to damage Pakistan’s relations with the United States.
Malik was referring to the allegation that the US was involved in “removing” the PTI government with the vote of no-confidence moved by the then opposition being part of that conspiracy.
The accusation came as the PTI founding chairman became the first prime minister in Pakistan’s history to be moved through constitutional means.
In fact, the vote of no-confidence is the sole mechanism prescribed by the Constitution in very parliamentary democracy to change the government.
Besides the devastating effects on Pakistan-US relations, Malik said the then deputy speaker – Qasim Suri – had waved a sealed envelope to declare the no-confidence move illegal – thus labelling the entire opposition as a foreign agent.
“Violating the Constitution is the violation the Constitution,” the PML-N leader remarked – a reference to President Arif Alvi and the then prime minister for dissolving the assembly and giving an advice for the purpose in an unconstitutional manner after just minutes Suri’s illegal action.
“It is not just dictators who trample the Constitution,” Malik remarked while narrating the events revolving around the cipher issue.
At the same time, he added that a false narrative was built for public consumption by using the cipher, which portrayed the PTI as a victim and the opposition a collection of individual acting against the country at international powers’ behest.
HE IS A SECURITY THREAT
Separately, another party leader Mohsin Shahnawaz Ranjha told reporters that the PTI former chairman was a security, not innocent, who had damaged national interest and relations with friendly nation just to stay in power
کبھی سننے کو آیا " گڈ ٹو سی یو" کبھی سننے کو آیا "بیسٹ آف لک" اور اب معصوم۔ ایک ایسا شخص جو پاکستان کی اپنی عدالتوں سے کرپٹ ثابٹ ہوچکا ہے وہ نااہل ہوچکا ہے پھر بھی اسکو معصوم کا سرٹیفیکیٹ دیا جاتا ہے۔ رہنما مسلم لیگ ن محسن شاہنواز رانجھا pic.twitter.com/R2islsbhFs
— PMLN (@pmln_org) December 23, 2023
He said the series of granting certificates to the “favourite” was in progress for a long period, which had destroyed Pakistan and its economy.
