I will seek federal cabinet's permission to arrest Imran Khan: Rana Sanaullah

Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah said on Thursday that he will seek the federal cabinet's permission to arrest former prime minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan, Aaj News reported.

"The Supreme Court's verdict in the National Assembly's deputy speaker's ruling case exposed lies and propaganda by Imran Khan and his party," the Interior Minister said while addressing a press conference in Islamabad.

His remarks came a day after the Apex Court issued a detailed judgment in the deputy speaker's ruling case, stating that Qasim Suri's ruling infringed fundamental rights of the opposition parties and the public at large.

A five-member bench headed by Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial and comprising Justice Ijaz ul Ahsan, Justice Mazhar Alam Khan Miankhel, Justice Munib Akhtar and Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail on Wednesday delivered the detailed judgment of their short order on the then Deputy Speaker Qasim Suri’s ruling on the no-trust move against the then prime minister Imran Khan.

In his presser today, the minister said that the government will file a reference against the PTI leaders in the light of the Supreme Court's "historic" decision which "upheld the rule of law and the rule of people.”

“We have started works to file a reference under Article 6. Only the federal government has the authority to file cases under Articles 5 and 6.”

Sanaullah said that the court used the words “blatant violation” in its judgment which will lead to PTI Chairman Imran Khan's "political demise".

“Imran Khan violated the Constitution for his benefit [...] in line with the order, the president, the then-prime minister, and the then-deputy speaker violated the Constitution,” he said.

He added that other than the treason case, there was another way to punish the PTI leaders.

“The NA speaker will move the election commission seeking to unseat and disqualify them (PTI MNAs, including Imran Khan),” he added.

'SC's verdict full of errors'

Earlier on Thursday, reacting to the top court's verdict on the issue of the no-confidence motion, former information minister and senior PTI leader Fawad Chaudhry said that the Supreme Court's decision was "full of errors" as it disregarded the evidence.

Addressing a presser in Islamabad, Fawad said that the courts were taking political decisions while disregarding the evidence.

Chaudhry noted that former US national security adviser John Bolton had outrightly accepted that the US was involved in toppling governments and changing political regimes “but the Supreme Court brushed off this revelation.”

He also highlighted that PTI had submitted the cipher to the chief justice of the Supreme Court of Pakistan but it was not presented to the judges for review.