ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Tuesday rejected the contents of the “political presser” by the representatives of Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) and Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA), saying it was part of the same scheme under which the door of free and fair elections has been closed by the court upon 12.5 million voters of the country.
In a statement issued here, a PTI spokesman strongly reacting to the presser by PBC and SCBA’s representatives, rejected the contents of the presser and said that the decision of the top court stripping PTI of its electoral symbol “bat” was “absolutely flawed” and “offensive”, which opened the door of a very dangerous distortion in the constitutional and democratic scheme of the country.
He made it clear that the decision to snatch the electoral symbol “bat” was made long ago in closed rooms, however, an attempt was made to hold the judiciary responsible in the eyes of the nation by putting the court’s stamp on the verdict.
He pointed out that out of the total 175 political parties in the country, PTI conducted the best, most effective, and transparent intra-party election in the country.
He recalled that PTI conducted two intra-party elections on June 8, 2022, and December 2, 2023, respectively, on which the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) could not raise any reasonable and legal objections except some futile technical objections.
He made it clear that PTI held the election in the presence of the media in Peshawar, the capital of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, in compliance with the law despite serious concerns over the electoral watchdog’s decision.
He stressed that the process of intra-party elections continued for at least five days, which was being reported with regular interval on national and social media.
He noted that PTI had chosen one of its well-qualified and most capable workers for the august post of the party chairmanship, burying the hereditary politics in the light of the vision of the PTI founding Chairman Imran Khan.
He lamented that the constitution was trampled upon, rule of law, sanctity of votes and basic legal rights were violated and the courts were used as a source of the worst political vendetta, but, unfortunately, none of these lawyers’ representatives neither ever uttered a word against these unlawful and unjust acts nor vented any concern and sorrow.
He went on to say that the four provinces and the Center were handed over to the unconstitutional, illegal, unrepresentative and unelected governments, but they paid no attention and observed complete silence in this regard.
He recalled that the judiciary, especially the judges of the Peshawar High Court (PHC), were subjected to open threats, but none of them ever dared to come forward to hold a press conference.
“Today, when a hybrid dictatorship was in force in the country after wrapping up the framework of the constitution and democracy, but this group was busy in making unsuccessful efforts to defend the extra-constitutional decisions and supporting the political agenda of the state against the people,” he added.
He noted that a minority class of lawyers became the source of the “murder of the constitution and democracy”, besides contributing to the “nefarious plan to destroy the judiciary”, which was restored after great struggle and sacrifices.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024
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