Pakistan Today

Imran Khan draws flak for cursing parliament

Ayesha Bibi

LAHORE: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan has drawn flak from all quarters after he cursed the parliament during Wednesday’s joint opposition protest in Lahore seeking justice for the Model Town tragedy.

The PTI chief had cursed the parliament for “making a criminal the president of a party” while referring to the approval of Election Act 2017 by the parliament that paved the way for ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif to become the head of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) after his disqualification.

He also said that a similar example cannot be found anywhere in the country where a corrupt person continues to lead a political party.

During the Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) rally on Jan 17, Imran had said that he might resign from the National Assembly as “the current parliament has violated the basic principles of democracy by voting in support of the corrupt Sharifs”.

Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on Thursday distanced his party from the words used for parliament in the rally while Opposition Leader in the National Assembly Khursheed Shah also criticised the anti-parliament remarks made by Imran Khan.

Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Khursheed Shah said that the PPP condemns the statement given by the PTI leader, adding that by doing so Imran only repeated the stance of the former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, so there is no difference between the two leaders.

Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif also criticised the opposition leaders who had openly cursed the parliament, saying the political leaders should be summoned to appear before the National Assembly to explain their remarks.

Addressing the National Assembly session on Thursday, the foreign minister said, “All limits were crossed in the [joint opposition] rally,” and added that the “frustrations” of the opposition leaders knew no bounds.

He said that the leaders should be brought before a parliamentary committee of National Assembly. “They should be summoned, and if they still don’t come then arrest them and bring them here [assembly].

“We will not permit this [language],” Asif said. “The elections are coming up, everyone has the right to campaign and gather support from voters — but no one has the right to curse.”

“This House has never seen such shameful conduct,” Asif added.

The foreign minister also stated that the remarks made by Imran Khan against the parliament were the “lowest point of politics” and it has left the “nation’s head hanging in shame”.

Federal Minister for Pakistan Railways Khawaja Saad Rafique took to Twitter to criticise Imran’s comments by saying that it is a sin for one ‘Momin’ to use such derogatory language for another.

 

Imran Khan, on the other hand, stood by his comments despite criticism.

On Thursday, he tweeted, “When a Parliament, which must protect nation’s interests, passes a person-specific law allowing a disqualified person guilty of Rs3 bn in money laundering, tax evasion, concealment of assets, forgery and perjury to become head of a political party, then such a law is a “laanath” on the parliament”.

“In fact in this specific context ‘laanath’ is a mild word to use. If anyone disagrees, I challenge them to do a public poll on what ppl think of such a parliament. I can guarantee most will condemn it,” the PTI leader concluded.

However, it was not just the political leadership which criticised Imran Khan over his unsavoury remarks about the parliament. Common people took to Twitter and other social media sites and showed their disdain over PTI leader’s use of non- parliamentary language.

Marvi Sirmed, a social and human rights activist, took to Twitter and questioned Khan over the very members of PTI who were part of the parliament he deemed unworthy and stated,”Why did your party not raise a single objection when the same law, with the same provisions, was being discussed in the Committee?”

PTI founding member Akbar S Babar also echoed the thoughts of Marvi Sirmed and stated, “how do you describe PTI Parliamentarians who facilitated passing of the same law in the Senate & your refusal to take any action against them?  Salute to the people of Lahore for standing with hope on 30/10/2011 & showing their back to double-faced politics on 17/01/2018.”

Similarly another Twitter user, Asad Ali Shah questioned Imran Khan’s hypocrisy over being part of the very parliament that he lambasted and stated, “Sir you are part of that LAANTI Parliament, you should have the moral courage to resign and stop taking salaries from this LAANTI Parliament”.

Another user going by the name @politicslead on Twitter stated, “First Please return all the salaries benefits you and your parliamentarian’s MNA MPAs gain from this assemblies If not Lanaat on you your MNA MPAs”.

 

Exit mobile version