PTI slams govt’s boycott decision

ISLAMABAD: Terming the boycott of the top court proceedings by the ruling coalition in a case pertaining to the election of chief minister Punjab as “treason”, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Monday demanded Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandial to take strict action against the act.

Speaking at a presser, PTI vice chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi, along with senior PTI leaders Ali Zaidi and Shahbaz Gill, said that there was no precedence in the history of the country, wherein, the “executive” had boycotted the country’s top court’s proceedings.

“The PDM [the Pakistan Democratic Movement] argued in the case, submitting their written response, but they announced the boycott of the top court proceedings after realising that they are set to lose the case which is unfortunate,” he regretted.

He called upon the people of Pakistan to completely boycott the 11-party coalition in the next general elections just like the people of Punjab rejected them in the recently held by-elections.

“These are the people [the PDM] who have brought the country near bankruptcy, the stock market has crashed, the rupee has devalued and so on and so forth… it is all due to their poor governance as they are the people who praised the courts when the verdicts are in their favour, and today, they crossed all limits by announcing to boycott the apex court sensing the decision will certainly be against them,” he lamented.

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In the same breath, Qureshi said that the boycott of the apex court proceedings is nothing but “law breaking” as it is the “executive” that insulted the top court of the country.

“I want to ask who allowed the law minister to argue in the instant case as then law minister of the PTI Farogh Naseem stepped down when he wanted to argue in a case before the apex court,” he questioned.

He also questioned the absence of the Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP), Asif Ali Zardari, and others, despite knowing the court is hearing an important case, adding the AGP and Zardari have run away as they know they are not going to get anything from the instant case.

He also came down hard on the PPP chairman and foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari for “indulging” into dirty politics while completely ignoring Karachi as rains have wreaked havoc in the port city.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022