Cheema asks whether ‘the mafia’ will be appointing next army chief

ISLAMABAD: Omar Sarfraz Cheema on Wednesday said that no one would be able to remove him as governor Punjab as he is not Usman Buzdar who was removed as chief minister Punjab by “thugs”.

Speaking at a presser, he questioned whether “the mafia who has been imposed on the people of Pakistan will appoint the next chief of army staff”.

He said the “situation of the last 37 days is in front of you, the country is facing a constitutional crisis and during the last 48 days, things have become even worse”.

He said he had informed President Dr Arif Alvi about the unconstitutional measure taken by the government, which started with the illegal and lawful resignation of Usman Buzdar as chief minister Punjab.

“After the verdict of a Lahore High Court (LHC) judge, the government employees in Punjab were used like personal servants. The chief minister [Hamza Shehbaz] was handpicked in a manner which is completely against the Constitution and the law as his selection was done by attacking the Punjab Assembly by “thugs”,” he regretted.

He said that an LHC judge issued an unconstitutional verdict in a case regarding oath of chief minister Punjab due to which we had decided to file a reference against him in the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC), but the lawyers’ community raised objection on it.

“The lawyers belonging to the PML-N are devoid of logic as they are trying to justify everything done by the LHC judge. The Punjab police was misused. I wrote a letter to Rana Sanullah [interior minister] for Rangers security as governor Punjab but he’s acting as a political worker of his party,” he lamented.

He said at the moment, there were two chief ministers in Punjab which was not only unconstitutional but also against the law of the land as it would push the largest province of the country towards anarchy.

“I would like to tell the people at the helm of affairs to steer the country out of the prevailing constitutional crisis before it’s too late,” he maintained. He reiterated that he was still governor Punjab and would keep fighting against “the mafia” who ousted chief minister Punjab through hooliganism, adding “I will fight as I am not afraid of these goons”.

Cheema said the “thugs” had forcibly occupied the Governor House, which would push the country towards anarchy, adding he had no personnel to vacate the Governor House as the illegal chief minister had illegally occupied the Governor House with the help of Punjab Police.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022