F.P. Report
KARACHI: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Vice Chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi said on Sunday that PPP was proud of the 18th Amendment but “Bhutto’s grandson has decided to attack Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto’s Constitution.
In a news conference on reaching the city, the former foreign minister has asked PPP to clear its stance whether they were standing with the Constitution or abrogating it. “Either the PPP stands with the Constitution or it should announce that it is abrogating it,” he said, adding that the silence that PPP has adopted was not enough. Taking aim at the former president and PPP co-chairman, Qureshi said: Asif Ali Zardari has destroyed what Bhutto created”.
“The National Assembly speaker is an obstacle in our return to the house. Bhutto’s Constitution has been occupied by the Zardaris,” Qureshi added.
He further said that under the current political circumstances, the 1973 Constitution that the PPP was proud of, was being tainted. Shah Mehmood Qureshi also lashed out at the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) for “attacking” the Constitution and “pressurising the Supreme Court”. He went on to say that the coalition government was using every tactic to delay general elections and for that, the new bill limiting the CJP’s powers was also passed in the parliament.
The PTI vice-chairman said that President Dr Arif Alvi has already begun consultations with lawyers. He also urged the legal community “to play a role in the country’s history”.
The constitutional crisis in Pakistan deepened as the ruling coalition in the Centre, led by PML-N, hinted that it would not accept the decision of the three-member SC bench hearing the polls delay case. Shah Mahmood Qureshi claimed the PML-N leadership has decided to attack the Constitution, while Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah has hinted at directly attacking judges.
The PML-N has accelerated its efforts to pressurize the Supreme Court of Pakistan, the PTI leader alleged, adding the PML-N is harassing judges in order to pressurize them.
The PTI leader said Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif invited all stakeholders for talks from the floor of the Senate. After saying that to save Pakistan from a political turmoil, everyone will have to sit and talk, he says they will not talk to Imran Khan, Qureshi remarked. Earlier, PTI Vice Chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi reached Karachi on Sunday. Qureshi was received at the airport by party leaders Ali Zaidi, Imran Ismail and Haleem Adil Sheikh.
Qureshi is scheduled to meet with leaders of the Grand Democratic Alliance. The PTI has decided to intensify its contacts with other parties in the wake of a stand-off with the government over elections to the Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa assemblies, and the meeting with GDA is a part of that campaign.
Qureshi says he will convey the message of PTI Chairman Imran Khan to the leaders of GDA, which is in the opposition in the National Assembly. He further told the media that the party’s Karachi President Imran Ismail has invited the GDA leadership for Iftar today. Pir Pagaro and other leaders will participate in the Iftar dinner, Qureshi said.
Moreover, he said, PTI President Chaudhry Parvez Elahi has contacted the leadership of the MQM, while the party will also get in touch with the Balochistan Awami Party.
The former minister said the main objective of this contact drive is to defend the Constitution and the independence of the judiciary and keep the nation united. “Those who are attacking the judiciary should be stopped,” Shah Mahmood remarked.
It is pertinent to mention here that former prime minister and PTI Chairman Imran Khan has given a task to his party leaders to make contacts with other political parties and members of civil society on the polls delay issue, and for mustering support for the judiciary.
In this connection, Imran Khan has decided to contact the Grand Democratic Alliance in Sindh. On his direction, Shah Mehmood Qureshi has gone to Karachi.
PTI’s opposition leader in Sindh Assembly Haleem Adil Sheikh and Sindh’s former governor Imran Ismail held a meeting with Imran Khan in Lahore a day earlier.
Imran gave the duo task to contact the GDA.
After Qureshi’s meeting with the GDA leaders, Sheikh and Ismail would also meet them.
Imran also tasked them to contact all political parties and members of civil society who support the establishment of rule of law and supremacy of the constitution.
The PTI chief was of the view that currently, the judiciary was under attack, saying that the entire nation should be united at this juncture.
“All those political parties should be contacted which want to stand for the supremacy of the constitution,” he added.
The PTI is contacting the allies of the government on the poll delay issue. NNI
