ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) vice-chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi said on Wednesday that the demarche to the country in question after a meeting of an all-important National Security Committee (NSC) shows the “threat letter” is without an iota of doubt “genuine”.
After a daylong huddle attended by top civil and military leadership, he added, the NSC declared to issue a strong demarche to the country in question for the “threat letter”, which we did.
“If the NSC recommends to issue a demarche, it means there is something very serious which no one can ignore”, declared Qureshi, a former foreign minister.
Speaking at a presser along PTI secretary general Asad Umar and others, he said that “whether the NA deputy speaker’s ruling is correct or not is a separate debate and the issue is being heard by the apex court”.
He said that the Supreme Court of Pakistan has to decide about the ruling of the Deputy Speaker National Assembly, Qasim Khan Suri.
He said that the apex court can also constitute a judicial commission to hold a thorough probe into the threat letter in order to settle the dust once and for all as there will be no compromise on national security.
About the rumours that the threat letter was generated at the Foreign Office, he categorically said: “There is no truth in these reports”.
He reiterated that there is no truth in the allegations of the opposition parties about the threat letter, adding “don’t know who dictates these people [the opposition] to give such statements where there is no truth”.
“That statement and letter [the threat letter] is a fact”, he maintained.
About the opposition’s claim that the then ambassador Asad Majid was hurriedly posted to Brussels, the former foreign minister said that Asad Majid is a seasoned diplomat who was posted to Brussels after completing his tenure in the US.
“After completion of the tenure, posting of a diplomat is a must, and this was the reason he [the ambassador] was posted to Brussels keeping in view his vast experience in the foreign service”, he added.
He said that all the diplomats at the Foreign Office are highly professional and honest people, adding “their credibility and honesty is respected today and will always be and no one should undermine our diplomats”.
Qureshi said that before becoming champions of democracy and the Constitution, he questioned the opposition whether their attempt to buy the conscience of PTI lawmakers and keeping them in Sindh House hideout by offering them huge sum of amount to garner their support to dislodge the government was constitutional.
He also said that if the opposition is concerned about the supremacy of the Constitution why did they refuse to attend an in-camera briefing of a parliamentary committee on national security on the “threat letter”.
About the opposition parties’ hue and cry of violation of the Constitution, he said that the opposition must keep this in mind that the PTI is well aware of the sanctity of the Constitution.
“The respect for the Constitution is a must, and we respect and protect the Constitution more than anybody else as we are a democratic people”, he added.
Qureshi said that it is the right of the opposition to present a no-confidence motion and they presented it.
He continued that the matter was fixed for voting in the National Assembly, but the deputy speaker rejected the no-confidence motion when the issue of foreign conspiracy to topple a democratically-elected government came to light.
He said that the deputy speaker did not reject the no-confidence motion without any solid reason, adding in the interest of national security, the issue needed to be taken to its logical conclusion.
He said that foreign diplomats are holding secret rendezvous with lawmakers besides meeting leaders of some opposition parties’ leaders abroad, which also need to be looked into as who met whom.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022
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