ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) on Friday said it would give detailed reaction over the Supreme Court’s verdict in Imran Khan and Jahangir Khan Tareen disqualification case after going through the 250-page judgment.
Talking to media persons outside the Supreme Court premises, PML-N leader Hanif Abbasi, who filed the petition seeking disqualification of PTI chief Imran Khan and PTI Secretary General Jahangir Tareen, said he would give his views after going through the verdict in detail.
Minister for Privatisation Daniyal Aziz said the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) should not have been restricted to examine PTI’s foreign funding just for a period of five years.
He said former prime minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif and his family assets were evaluated since 1962, adding that restricting the ECP for examination PTI’s foreign funds for a period of five years were beyond understanding. “It is strange that ECP, which is an independent constitutional body, has been restricted to just five years.
The question arises what is the logic behind it (five-year period) as there is no mention of any election date, nomination papers date, party funds, filing of returns and audit report dates.
Shortly, it seems that Jahangeer Tareen has been made a scapegoat to save PTI and Imran Khan as it is in line with the script,” he said.
He said the counsel for Imran Khan’s confessional statement had been appearing in media with regard to receiving foreign funds for running the party affairs, which were never denied. He said Imran Khan himself confessed that he paid the debt of his party with the bet-winning money, adding that the PTI chief had been involved in receiving money from abroad through illegal means.
State Minister for Interior Talal Chaudhry said right to declare someone qualified or disqualified rests with people and such a decision should be given by the public courts. He claimed that the decision not to disqualify Imran Khan was predetermined, as the forces behind him wanted him to play his role for their interests.
He said since the decision was reserved on the case, people of the country were well aware that Jahangir Tareen would be made a scapegoat to save Imran Khan and PTI.
The minister expressed astonishment that how the people knew about the forthcoming incidents and questioned which forces were spreading such information before the actual episode.
The minister cited that people had information of disqualification of PM prior to Supreme Court’s decision, the same had been the case with Hudabiya case reopening, Model Town Commission Report, and now the decision pertaining to qualification of Imran Khan.
Prime Minister’s adviser Mussadiq Malik termed the decision ‘Doctrine of Necessity’, saying that he was not surprised by the decision as such verdicts had been given in the past too, including the one related to the hanging of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto.
He said whenever the PML-N raised voice, the response came with the reopening of Hudabiya case, Model Town cases, and then by sit-ins. He further claimed that another sit-in was in pipeline to choke the voice of the PML-N.