Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) vice chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi said on Saturday that his party would safeguard democracy in the country.

Addressing the media, he said that the historic Panama case verdict would be remembered for a long time. “It has made the powerful answerable before the law. PTI was the first one to raise its voice against corruption across the country. If there are allegations of corruption against anyone, they should be held accountable,” he said.

“The conspiracy theory being put forward by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz has no truth behind it. Even Beijing and Washington have termed the PM’s dismissal an internal matter of Pakistan and have no reservations over it,” he said.

The PTI leader said the in the past, the judiciary had relied upon the doctrine of necessity. “Now there is an independent judiciary in the country. The whole nation has witnessed this after the Panama case verdict,” he said. He said that there would be across the board accountability now, adding that the days of selective justice were over.

He said the opposition parties would convene a meeting to give a clear message that they would not be part of any conspiracy. “Pakistan People’s Party is leading the efforts to call for a parliamentary session to elect the leader of the House,” he said.

However, Qureshi expressed serious reservations over PML-N’s decision to nominate Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif for the prime minister’s slot. “Shahbaz has a pending reference against him in the National Accountability Bureau (NAB). What message will it convey to the country and the international community?” he asked.

Qureshi also questioned the tradition of dynastic politics. “Why is another member of the Sharif family being nominated for the office? Is there no one else in the PML-N who is suitable for the role? Have our political parties not reached the level of maturity where they can move past families?” he asked.

“We feel it will create more problems if Shahbaz is selected prime minister. They have many other senior party members,” he said. The PTI vice chairman also said the joint investigation report, submitted after the Model Town tragedy, should be made public. He also announced Dr Yasmeen Rashid as the PTI’s candidate to contest the elections from NA-120. “During our meeting today, we discussed that NA-120 seat now stands vacated. We decided to nominate Dr Yasmeen Rashid as our candidate,” he said.

Referring to PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto’s announcement that they would nominate their own candidate for the slot of PM, Qureshi said that it would have been better if the PPP had reached out to opposition parties before making the call.

He further said that Leader of Opposition Khursheed Shah had reached out to him and had invited the PTI to discuss a future course of action. “We discussed and said the PPP should have taken all opposition parties in confidence before announcing that they will field a candidate for the seat of the prime minister,” he said.

Qureshi also said all opposition parties would be consulted in order to agree on a joint candidate for the post of prime minister.

Published in Daily Times, July 30^th , 2017.