File photo of Maulana Fazlur Rehman
United opposition calls on military authorities to issue statement confirming or denying PTI’s claims of no-trust being linked to ‘foreign conspiracy’
Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) chief Fazlur Rehman on Monday said the opposition is ready for elections—but only after the sanctity of the Constitution of Pakistan has been upheld.
Addressing a press conference, he recalled that the Supreme Court had restored the Balochistan Assembly in 1988 after it had been dissolved illegally. “The [Supreme] court should take action against the recent violation of the Constitution and not delay its ruling,” he said.
Slamming Deputy Speaker Qasim Khan Suri for unilaterally dismissing the no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Imran Khan without taking the opposition’s input, he also criticized President Arif Alvi for “blindly” obeying Khan’s instructions. “The entire country has been pushed into a crisis … our sole demand is for the deputy speaker’s ruling to be declared illegal,” he said, stressing that Suri’s ruling was “controversial and unconstitutional.”
The PDM chief, who also heads his own faction of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam, said the “controversial” decision was predicated on a “controversial letter” and warned the PTI and Khan that the opposition would “not back down” before their illegal steps. “All of these unconstitutional moves are being made to come into power again—illegally,” he said, and accused Khan of trying to secure a “safe exit” by dissolving the Lower House of Parliament.
Fazl’s press conference followed Suri dismissing the no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Imran Khan a day earlier after invoking Article 5 (loyalty to the state) of the Constitution. Within minutes, the prime minister—in a pre-recorded televised address—congratulated the nation on “their success” and asked Pakistanis to gear up for elections as he had advised the president to dissolve the National Assembly. The president, within hours, dissolved the Lower House and tasked Khan to continue serving as prime minister until an interim setup could be established.
In a separate press conference of the united opposition, both Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and Fazl asked military authorities to issue a clear statement confirming or denying the PTI’s claims that the National Security Committee (NSC) had found the opposition’s resolution part of a “foreign agenda.” They, alongside representatives of the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz), the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, the Awami National Party, and the Balochistan National Party-Mengal, also sought condemned the deputy speaker for suggesting 197 members of the National Assembly who wished to vote against Imran Khan were “traitors” to the country.
“Ex-P.M. Imran Khan is using foreign conspiracy to justify his coup. Will [ISPR] clarify did NSC meeting declare the 197 members of the NA traitors and part of a foreign plot? Can foreign official or defense ministry produce any official correspondence between [March] 7-27 on foreign sazish (conspiracy),” Bhutto-Zardari posted on Twitter after the press conference. “Surely, a plot of this scale would have been uncovered by our own intelligence agencies and other institutions [and] not just [by] an ambassador’s cable,” he added.
During the press conference, all opposition leaders called on the Supreme Court to stop “Imran Khan’s coup” and address the political crisis in the country. Noting that April 4 marked the day of the “judicial murder” of ex-premier Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, the PPP chairman added: “The judiciary failed to provide us justice. Our presidential reference [on Bhutto’s case] is still pending. The court couldn’t stop Zia’s coup, it couldn’t stop Musharraf’s coup … But we are requesting you: stop Imran Khan’s coup.” The SC ruling, he stressed, would determine whether the Constitution was “just a piece of paper” or a “document that protects the integrity of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.”
In his turn at the podium, PMLN President Shahbaz Sharif equated Khan’s actions on April 3 to those of military ruler Pervez Musharraf when he imposed a state of emergency on Nov. 3, 2007. What happened in the NA was a “planned conspiracy,” he said. “On March 24, the speaker had granted leave to the no-confidence motion. If there was an objection under Article 5, why was the leave granted?” he questioned, adding that it was also curious that Pakistan’s former ambassador to the U.S., who had sent the diplomatic cable, had remained in touch with U.S. government officials, and even tweeted a thank you note for Washington after receiving the “threats.”