-Joint Opposition will foil attack on SC:
-Urges SC to take a suo motu against federal ministers
LAHORE: As the political temperature of Pakistan is continuously rising with every passing day in the wake of the Panama case Joint Investigation Team (JIT) proceedings, all the opposition parties from Punjab met on Thursday to devise a future strategy.
According to the details, opposition leader Mian Mehmoodur Rasheed chaired the meeting of the parliamentary parties in Punjab Assembly, in which Dr Syed Waseem Akhtar of Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), Khadija Umar of Pakistan Muslim League-Q (PML-Q) and Faiza Malik of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) participated.
Opposition leader Mehmoodur Rasheed strongly criticised federal ministers of the ruling party and accused them of launching verbal attacks on state institutions, including the Supreme Court, JIT and Pakistan Army.
“The opposition parties of Punjab strongly condemn the behaviour of some federal ministers on hurling threats at the JIT and apex court and we urge them not to take the matter at a point of no-return,” the opposition leader said, while adding that the Supreme Court must take a suo motu against these ministers, indulged in the character assassination of the judiciary and military.
The prime minister appeared before the JIT as an accused and it is an utter humiliation for Pakistan when an accused prime minister goes on the foreign visits, so it will be in the national interest of the country that Nawaz Sharif should resign till the end of the investigations, he added. Rasheed was of the view that it is unfair that the Sharif family is being escorted with the official protocol to appear before the JIT as it is the money of taxpayers which is being spent on the protocol of the Sharifs. Rasheed claimed the PML-N is once again planning to repeat the history of the 1990s by attacking the Supreme Court, but they are unaware of the vibrant opposition present in the country to resist them.
Rasheed was of the view that it is unfair that the Sharif family is being escorted with the official protocol to appear before the JIT as it is the money of taxpayers which is being spent on the protocol of the Sharifs. Rasheed claimed the PML-N is once again planning to repeat the history of the 1990s by attacking the Supreme Court, but they are unaware of the vibrant opposition present in the country to resist them.
“The joint opposition will be present in every region stop any potential threat to the Supreme Court this time,” he commented.
He further added that billions of rupees were received in the form of kickbacks by Shahbaz Sharif-led Punjab government in Metro and Saaf Pani projects and we are planning to challenge these projects in the Lahore High Court soon. “Let me clear one thing that the PTI will not accept any unconstitutional change in the country despite the fact that PML-N is trying hard to become the ‘political martyr’ in this scenario,” Rasheed said.
Parliamentary leader of Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Dr Waseem Akhtar said that a vibrant opposition is present in the country and the JI strongly believes in that the future of Pakistan is attached with the rule of law. Faiza Malik of PPP was of the view that it is completely unrealistic to draw a comparison between Maryam Nawaz and Benazir Bhutto as the former appeared before the JIT with full official protocol, while the latter used to appear in the courts as an ordinary citizen. Deputy opposition leader Sibtain Khan and other MPAs, including Saadia Sohail Rana, Dr Murad Ras and Shoaib Siddiqui were also present on the occasion.
