From Abid Usman
LAHORE: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) senior leader Fawad Chaudhry reiterated on Wednesday that his party will hold talks with the ruling coalition merely under the constitutional framework.
He made his remarks in Dunya News’ talk show, during which Mr Chaudhry said, “The government has so far not created an environment for holding talks on the Supreme Court’s (SC) order. We are saying from the first day that all the stakeholders should hold talks under an electoral framework.”
Lashing out at the political opponents, Mr Chaudhry said, “Strange things are happening during the tenure of incumbent government. The rulers are of the view that now elections cannot happen as they are elected”.
Stressing the need for consensus on constitutional amendment, Mr Chaudhry said if the government wanted “elections in one go” the Sindh and National Assembly should be dissolved first.
“If the government is not willing to dissolve the assemblies, then it should hold the Punjab Assembly elections,” he added.
“In connection with the holding of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly elections, the court has not given its ruling so far. However, in terms of holding the Punjab Assembly elections, the court has delivered the verdict. That is why we are talking about the elections in Punjab,” Mr Chaudhry maintained.
Meanwhile, Imran Khan claimed on Wednesday that the entire country was in the throes of fascism.
Taking to Twitter, the deposed premier lamented, “The way we have descended into becoming a ba-nana republic where there is no rule of law and only the law of the jungle. It is clear that this reign of terror is not controlled by PDM puppets but by another force that sees itself totally above the law. Our people are abducted, and afterwards sham FIRs are registered.”
Ruing the cases lodged against him, Mr Khan said, “As bail in one FIR is granted, another FIR pops up. I have over 145 FIRs filed against me. Its a circus of FIRs. My Bani Gala caretaker, my Zaman Park cook, our social media’s Mashwani, Waqas, and my security incharge, Ghumman, – all abducted and tortured to try and update their software.”
Speaking about the arrest of PTI stalwart Ali Amin Gandapur, Mr Khan said, “Ali Amin got bail in one sham case, and another FIR popped up. Now another one with the police taking him to Lahore.
“Despite falling ill on the way and being taken to the hospital, Ali Amin was removed from the hospital before he had stabilised”, Mr Khan maintained.
On Monday, Mr Khan said the constitution could not prevail in the country if the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) did not release funds for the Punjab Assembly elections.
Speaking to media outside the courtroom, the deposed premier said, Despite the fact that the consti-tution states that negotiations are not needed, we are doing negotiations for the sake of elections.
The possibility of holding the electionsafter 90 days does not exist. There are constitutional limits on holding the elections over more than 90 days.”
Mr Khan was of the view that the interim setup should be replaced with the administrator, who should perform the task of holding the elections in the province. He alleged that the interim government was indulging in a political vendetta.
Mr Khan said, “Who is talking that we had strained relations with the US and KSA. General Bajwa launched a campaign against our government because he wanted an extension. Within three months, two meetings of the OIC were held in the country. Is this happened before in the country?”
“We were having strong relationships with China, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Donald Trump, and Boris John-son. Who is ready to talk with the incumbent government?” he added. Mr Khan maintained, “Already in the country, the fundamental human rights are being badly violated”.
Besides, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Chaudhry Parvez Elahi said on Wednesday that he will continue to extend support to former prime minister Imran Khan.
Former Punjab Assembly speaker Chaudhry Afzal Sahi called on the former Punjab chief minister, dur-ing which Mr Elahi said, “Right now Imran Khan is the nation’s only hope. The current situation will be decisive in terms of the country’s future.”
Firing a fresh salvo at the political opponents, Mr Elahi said, “The Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) cannot put obstacles on Imran’s way. The government resorts to negative propaganda by which in the international community, the country’s image is suffering badly.”
He claimed that the government was sending a message to the world that the country had been taken hostage by terrorists.
“The incumbent government was of the view that the country was not in a position to hold elections in one province. When the government itself resorts to such a negative propaganda, who in the country will invest,” Mr Elahi berated the coalition government.
