ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Monday strongly reacted to the indictment of ex-prime minister and party chairman Imran Khan and Shah Mahmood Qureshi, the then foreign minister, in the cypher case, saying “a leader who challenged the slavery” was implicated in a false case while the man – Shehbaz Sharif – who openly said “beggars can’t be choosers” was handpicked to rule the country.
Speaking at a presser, the senior members of the legal team of former prime minister, Shoaib Shaheen and Naeem Panjotha, contended that there was nothing wrong in declassifying the cypher, as Imran Khan did so as prime minister of the country.
“God forbid! If the country comes under attack, the prime minister has the authority to take decision in the best national interest. As prime minister, Imran Khan declassified the cypher, but he is being punished as he challenged the power who wanted to treat his country like a slave,” he regretted.
He said the way the Islamabad High Court (IHC) “facilitated” all this indictment and is still busy in facilitating is shameful, which is the double standard as far as justice is concerned, adding all the cases against Imran Khan are being reserved, which is again a big question on the impartiality of justice.
He also flayed the behaviour of the police for stopping PTI workers from holding rallies, saying a convicted absconder is being saluted by the police while peaceful people are stopped from holding rallies.
Panjotha said that section 216 of PPC should be applied on Shehbaz Sharif who played an important role as prime minister in striking a deal with powers that be to bring his absconder convicted brother from England.
He recalled that a petition seeking a protective bail for Imran Khan was rejected by the IHC but the same remains tight-lipped when a similar petition landed before them seeking bail for a convicted absconder.
He continued that the convicted absconder – Nawaz Sharif – who staged a comeback through a deal, has gone to Murree, despite being a convict, and that too in full state protocol, which shows how independent our courts are.
Meanwhile, PTI spokesman Raoof Hasan said that PTI completely rejects the special court’s decision, as the indictment of PTI chief and vice chairman Qureshi in the cypher case is a murder of justice and judicial system.
He expressed disappointment over the “total failure” of the judiciary in ensuring the upholding of the constitution, the supremacy the rule of law, besides protecting the right of citizens, especially the PTI leaders and workers to a fair trial in the country.
He said the entire state was under the attack of absolute lawlessness like paralysis and due to which its organs started ceasing to function one after another.
He recalled that during the last 18-month-long rule, the state first lost its vision, followed by intellect and ability to think and after the collapse of the justice system, its entire existence was under attack of the paralysis.
He underlined that the cypher case was the most absurd, fabricated and baseless case among more than over 200 fake and bogus cases filed against PTI chairman, adding that the state even lacked the capacity to at least conduct judicial proceedings on the false cases in the light of any rule of law.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023
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