Daily Times

Minister for Information and Broadcasting Marriyum Aurangzeb on Friday urged the Supreme Court to form a full court bench to hear a case regarding polls in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for averting any constitutional crisis in the country.

The proceedings of the case regarding the polls’ delay started with a nine-member bench, whose strength had now been relegated to three judges only, the minister said while talking to the media outside the Supreme Court.

Marriyum said Justice Ijaz-ul-Ahsan, who had recused himself from hearing the sou moto case regarding the polls delay, should not be part of the bench hearing the contempt case. She said the Pakistan Democratic Movement member parties had already called for the constitution of a full bench for the case as the three-member bench had become “controversial”. There was an impression that the three-member bench had lost its credibility, she added.

Referring to the circular issued by the SC registrar, she said it was the “decision of one person”. Castigating Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan, the minister said a “mentally sick person” wanted to set the whole country on fire by creating chaos and anarchy. In the first place, he concocted the story of a cipher while waving a paper in a party rally and then illegally dissolved the National Assembly to prevent his ouster from power in the wake of the no-confidence motion moved by the then-opposition.

“This mentally sick person also forced the speaker and deputy speaker of the National Assembly to take unconstitutional actions,” she said, adding Imran Khan’s false narrative of the “regime change conspiracy” had been fully exposed before the people.

Marriyum said Imran Khan gave shelter to the terrorists at Zaman Park, who attacked the police who were trying to implement the court orders. The PTI leader in fact wanted rioting and “dead bodies” as his sole objective was to create chaos in the country, she added.

She accused Imran Khan of using money received as charity for his politics and stealing watches from the Toshakhana.

“The people are witnessing that Imran Khan has been threatening judges and attacking courts,” she said. The Constitution, however, could not be made subservient to the whims of only PTI, she added.

The minister said Imran Khan was running away from the elections. Democratic parties would contest the election and field their candidates after the completion of the constitutional terms of the assemblies, and then Imran Khan would be voted out of politics by the people, she added.

To a question, she said anyone involved in unconstitutional actions must be brought to book irrespective of his status so that deterrence for the future could be established and all institutions should remain in their ambit.

She said Imran Khan had violated the Constitution by illegally dissolving the National Assembly to avoid the no-confidence motion. It was now upto the Supreme Court to intervene and interpret the Constitution, she added.

Holding elections was the responsibility of the Election Commission of Pakistan for which a conducive environment and budget were needed, the minister said while responding to another query.