Implementing the Supreme Court's judgement in the Asghar Khan case will be a test case for the PPP-led coalition government, an office-bearer of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) said PTI's Central Vice-President Ali Asghar Khan said while addressing a press conference on Saturday.
"We don't expect much from the PPP-led government to take the matter to its logical conclusion by implementing the Supreme Court decision in the Asghar Khan case. Both the parties (the PPP and PML-N) are protecting each other. Now, the media, civil society (organisations), lawyers and PTI have to build (up) pressure on the government to implement the decision of the court in letter and sprit," he said.
He said: "Today, the PPP is trying to portray itself as a victim, but whenever documents were sought regarding the Mehran Bank, it tried to obstruct during the hearing of the case. It even requested for a two- to three-week extension in this regard. Today, all political parties are appreciating the decision, but they did not support the man (Asghar Khan) who has been fighting the case for the past 16 years," he said. PTI's Vice-President said that it was not just a matter of distributing money among military commanders and political leadership, but the basic issue was the violation of the Constitution by "stealing people's mandate".
He said that it was a huge responsibility on the shoulders of Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to hold free, fair and transparent elections. "We have full confidence in Chief Election Commissioner Fakharuddin G Ebrahim. The ECP has to expose all tactics and tools used by secret agencies or politicians before holding the upcoming elections," he said.
Ahmad Jawad said: "It has been proved that the 1990 elections were rigged and the government and the then Prime Minister (Nawaz Sharif) rule during that era was illegitimate." "The government should take action against all military generals and politicians who are involved in this crime," he said. Dr Israr Shah, a former diehard PPP worker, who joined PTI, appreciated former Air Martial Asghar Khan and the Supreme Court on the decision.