ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan on Tuesday claimed that the cipher case is a “100 percent acquittal case”, hoping that the party founding chairman Imran Khan and the former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi would be acquitted by the court in an honourable manner.
Speaking at a presser here, he said that the cipher case could not be remanded back to the trial court, as the prosecution was given ample opportunity to establish the allegations but it miserably failed.
“We are optimistic that the case will be decided on merit as soon as possible. The way the local court heard the case in utmost haste, I am sure the IHC will throw its decision into the dustbin soon,” he added.
To a question about the award of Senate tickets, as some PTI workers are up in arms over the distribution of tickets, Gohar said that the tickets for the forthcoming Senate elections were awarded purely on merit to the party workers who rendered sacrifices when the party was going through a testing time.
He said that the party decided to award tickets to the best candidates in Senate elections which all the party workers accepted, adding there is no truth in the reports of infighting within the party as all the decisions are being taken through consensus after threadbare discussion in the core committee of the party.
“Imran Khan is my chairman and he will remain so. All the decisions are taken after consultations with Imran Khan as he is the leader whether he is inside or outside the jail,” he maintained.
Gohar also defended the party's decision to join the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) in a bid to get the seats reserved for women, saying “We had taken up the issue before the Supreme Court of Pakistan that we might face issues with regard to reserved seats if we were stripped of our electoral symbol of bat, and our apprehension proved true”.
He said that the party would knock on the doors of the apex court once again, as the seats reserved for women and minorities are the rights of the party, and it must not be deprived of its constitutional and democratic right.
“We will go to the court again and will continue fighting for our right as no other party has the right to claim our seats as these seats only belonged to PTI,” he maintained.
To a question about fielding jailed party leader Umar Cheema as a covering candidate in Senate elections, he said that Cheema had served as governor of Punjab, due to which he could not contest elections for two years.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024
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