LAHORE: Former National Assembly Speaker and senior Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Asad Qaiser has said that the PTI-led alliance, Tehreek-e-Tahafuz Aieen, (movement for the protection of constitution), will hold a rally on May 10 at Faisalabad.
He expressed these views while addressing the Lahore Press Club’s meet the press programme on Friday; Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party Chairman and head of the Tehreek-e-Tahafuz Aieen Mahmood Khan Achakzai, Nasaullah Baloch of Balochistan National Party-Mangal and Asad Abbas Naqvi from Majlis Wahdat-e-Muslimeen were also present on this occasion.
The PTI leader further said that they have started the movement to protect the country’s Constitution and it will gain momentum with time. He demanded that this country should be run according to the Constitution.
Coming hard on the incumbent rulers, he accused Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz of running an illegitimate government, adding that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has a fake mandate. He claimed that his party had won the February 8 general elections from the entire Pakistan, including Lahore.
The former Speaker saw the May 9 incident as a fake drama, staged to implicate the PTI members and workers, and demanded that the political prisoners should be released immediately. He also demanded that the fake cases registered against PTI founding Chairman Imran Khan’s spouse, Bushra Bibi, be withdrawn.
Talking about the wheat crisis in Punjab, he castigated the government for showing no empathy towards the farmers. He claimed that the government knew that they were importing surplus wheat. Thus, action should be taken against the people involved in the wheat scandal, including former Caretaker Prime Minister Anwar-ul-Haq Kakar and former Punjab Chief Minister Mohsin Naqvi, he added.
On this occasion, Mahmood Khan Achakzai talked about the supremacy of the constitution, saying it is not just a piece of paper, it is a social contract between the people, and no country could function without an agreement (constitution). “The people decide the terms and conditions of an agreement, which creates an unbreakable bond among them,” he said, adding that “Our Constitution explicitly talks about its supremacy and declares the parliament as the centre of power, and also outlines the procedure for the parliament elections and its functions.”
He pointed out that a soldier takes an oath of not interfering in the country’s political affairs, but everyone on the street knows the truth otherwise. “We desire to see our army and our spy agencies a strong institution, and for this, we are willing to provide resources, but like in other democratic countries, it should remain within the limits of the Constitution. It should only perform duties that are defined in the Constitution,” he said.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024
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