President Alvi urges CJP to form commission on 'regime change conspiracy'

President Dr Arif Alvi has urged Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Atta Bandial to form a Judicial Commission to probe the alleged "regime change conspiracy" that, according to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan, was behind the ouster of his government.

In a letter to the CJP, the president requested that the commission "preferably be chaired by the CJP himself" to conduct open hearings on the issue and thoroughly probe the allegations of regime change conspiracy to avert the political and economic crisis in the country.

Underlining the importance of the commission, President Alvi said that a serious political crisis was looming in the country, adding that a major polarisation was taking place in the wake of recent events as well as among the people of Pakistan.

"It is the collective duty of all institutions to make utmost efforts to avert damaging consequences to the country and prevent further deterioration," he said.

He underlined that the Supreme Court, in the past, had taken initiatives to constitute judicial commissions involving issues of national security, integrity, sovereignty, and public interest.

“A judicial commission, headed by Chief Justice Nasir ul Mulk and two honourable judges of Supreme Court, inquired into rigging allegations in 2013 elections. Similarly, judicial commissions were established to investigate the Memogate matter, and a still functional judicial commission exists for missing persons, that is headed by an Hon’able Judge of the Supreme Court”, he observed.

President Alvi calls for a judicial commission to probe 'regime change conspiracy'

He further stated that the Prime Minister had also expressed a desire for establishing a commission.

The President said that the nation held the Supreme Court in high regard and expected it to meet its expectations, adding that the commission should investigate the matter based not on technicalities of law but in the real spirit of justice.

The President said that in world history there existed myriad examples of regime change operations through conspiracies which were later confirmed by the declassification of top-secret documents. He lamented that it happened much later after the destinies of these countries had been significantly damaged by these illegal interventions.

“Who knows better than your Honour that to prove, that a “smoking gun” has been identified in the hand of a conspirator, or to find a possible money trail, or to identify meetings where people have been motivated towards cover action, or where people have been bought and sold, could be a vigorous exercise”, he added. “I am of the strong opinion that even recorded circumstantial evidence can lead the way towards some conclusions, based not on technicalities of law but in the real spirit of justice."

The President regretted that in the past, people had alleged and strongly believed in many obvious but unfortunately unproven conspiracies such as the murder of the first PM of Pakistan Shaheed Liaquat Ali Khan, the Agartala Conspiracy case, PM Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto’s public waving of a letter and allegation of a conspiracy against him, President Ziaul Haq’s plane crash, Abbottabad incident, and many other matters that remained inconclusive.

The President requested that the judicial commission should conduct an in-depth and thorough investigation into what may or may not have been planned and prepared, starting before or following the overt threat, in the form of a possible conspiracy for regime change in Pakistan.