DNA

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman-for-life Imran Khan penned a letter to Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) seeking superior judiciary’s meaningful intervention being the custodian of the Constitution and the ultimate arbiter of justice, as the state of the rule of law and supremacy of the Constitution has fallen to the new lows, fearing if the foregoing situation were to prevail, it would be fatal to any civilized order in the world.

Speaking at a press conference along with Intazar Hussain Panjutha, Focal Person to Imran Khan, PTI Central Information Secretary Raoof Hasan divulged that PTI Founding Chairman wrote a seven-point letter to the CJP about the prevailing state of the rule of law and supremacy of the constitution in Pakistan.

“As, what I believe to be the majority of our populace, faces the wrath of the State, now is the time for you to prove whether your declared belief in the principles and values espoused by Pakistan’s founding fathers, and your proclamation of the supremacy of the Constitution, are for real or were mere hollow rhetoric,” the letter reads.

He said that Imran Khan reminded that the new lows to which the state of the rule of law and supremacy of the Constitution has fallen in Pakistan have caused the gradual emergence of the law of the jungle and the enactment of the primitive doctrine that might is right.

Raoof demanded that the CJP should fulfill his constitutional and legal responsibilities otherwise he did not have the right to remain in the office and should relinquish his position instantly.

During the press conference, he highlighted that PTI Founding Chairman addressed seven matters in his letter including matter of petitions already pending in the SC, while others involve facts and circumstances that glaringly call for prompt intervention at the Judiciary’s own motion, but, in each case, it has so far been in vain.

He revealed that one of the seven issues was of Toshakhana case against Nawaz Sharif and said that NAB had instituted proceedings against Nawaz for having procured a luxury vehicle from the Toshakhana “through dishonest and illegal means for personal benefit and interest”. However now, all of a sudden with statements of 15 out of 25 witnesses already recorded, NAB prosecutors are proposing to the Accountability Court to exonerate him in an open and shut case, making a mockery of our justice system by clearly siding with thieves at the behest of its puppet Chairman Nazir Ahmed Butt.

Another matter is of the violent subjugation of the police by our armed forces in Bahawalnagar during the Eid-ul-Fitr holidays, Raoof said that the clash between state institutions should serve as an eye opener on the lop-sided state of uniformed vigilante justice in Pakistan. 

However, he said that sadly, an entire nation has been put on notice on the retaliation that can ensue if the police were to raid the home of someone who is backed by guns, tanks, artillery and soldiers – we are all given a message that there is a line the police cannot cross in the performance of its duties involving someone who stands above them in the pecking order.

However, he said that when the police repeatedly crosses every single line known to a civilized society by raiding, vandalizing and looting the homes of our unarmed citizens, no one comes to the rescue of these defenseless men, women and children.

“Disappointingly, our Judiciary, instead of stepping in, has remained a bystander in the face of all these excesses rather it has even acted as a facilitator when women, both young and old have been implicated in one case after another: when freed on bail from a case involving one locale in Lahore to be arrested for an alleged crime simultaneously committed in another locale several kilometers away, and when freed from that, to be arrested yet again for a crime allegedly committed several hundred kilometers away in Mainwali,” he added.

Imran Khan urged CJP that the lines drawn by our Constitution between the various pillars of the State are getting blurred into non-existence, and this has to be stopped before it is too late, Raoof said.    

About the letter penned by six IHC’s judges, Khan reminded the CJP that the Judiciary must take unified and decisive action to secure its independence and to hold accountable those who consistently undermine it by use of force or the threat of use of force. 

“To date, however, the action taken by the SC on the subject has been meek and indecisive, which calls for strict action on part of the apex court towards speedily setting the system right. Failing that, the people’s confidence in the justice system of Pakistan, which is undergoing significant erosion already, will stand dismantled and demolished,” the letter reads.

About PTI’s detainees of May 9 incident, Khan categorically stated that over ninety percent of the people who are incarcerated and undergoing trial for the incidents on 9th May 2023 were peaceful and unarmed protestors who did not indulge in any violence whatsoever. 

“The State, however, is acting as judge, jury and executioner in all these trials, first, directly through military courts, on the Constitutionality of which the SC has been dragging its feet for longer than it should, and, secondly, in an indirect manner, by holding guns to the heads of the Subordinate Court Judges who are conducting the trials,” it said.

He said that a constitutional petition calling for an independent, transparent and thorough inquiry into May 9 violence should be fixed for hearing at the earliest in the interest of complete justice.

Imran Khan pointed out that Commissioner Rawalpindi Division made a startling revelations in a press conference admitting his responsibility for manipulating election results on 8th February; however where he disappeared now from public view, are a mystery to all and sundry. 

“Is the SC so helpless in this regard that it does not deem this a matter of public importance with reference to the enforcement of fundamental rights and the entire nation whose mandate has been stolen feels very strongly about this,” he added.

Moreover, Khan said that a series of petitions, including one filed by PTI, pressing that the general election of February 8, 2024 was not conducted honestly, fairly and in accordance with law, have been pending in the SC, which should be fixed too.

Besides, Khan urged CJP to fix the party’s petition regarding the subject of allocation of reserved seats in the National and Provincial Assemblies because the way the matter has been handled by the ECP, and by Speakers of several of the Houses concerned was unknown to and unrecognized by our Constitution.

Imran Khan warned the CJP: “Inaction on your part and that of the SC in the face of each of the aforementioned matters of grave importance would exacerbate the Constitutional crisis the country is already faced with and push it closer and closer to the abyss.” 

“The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing,” (Albert Einstein)

Speaking on the occasion about unlawfully incarcerated PTI workers and leaders especially female including Sanam Javed, Aliya Hamza and Dr. Yasmin Rashid, who, he said, were being politically victimized and subjected to state fascism for their loyalty with Khan and PTI.

He made it clear that the power-wielders and the puppets should bear in mind that they neither break Imran Khan nor his workers and support through such coercive and brutal tactics and all such shameful tactics would fall flat.

On the occasion, he criticized Punjab government for unleashing a reign of terror ahead of the by-polls and the plan to suspend mobile services to rig the polls. However, Raoof made it clear that the nation would give a bigger surprise in the by-elections then the general elections.

Speaking on the occasion, Intazar Hussain Panjutha expressed alarm that the initial medical assessment of Bushra Bibi proved their apprehensions regarding her health true and valid because it established that her condition was not good.

Intazar Panjutha revealed that Bushra Bibi had wounds in her stomach and alimentary canal (digestive tract) because the food she was being provided was not suitable.

He revealed that physically she was also not well and her lips were so much affected that even she cannot even speak properly, adding that the doctor also advised to provide her an appropriate food. Intazar strongly condemned the treatment being meted out to the former first lady who had nothing to do with politics. He said that the biopsy report would be received after a week.