ISLAMABAD: The National Asse­m­­bly on Monday adopted a resolution with a majority vote urging the “state” to move the Supreme Court against Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan over his “anti-Pakistan and anti-armed forces” remarks during a TV interview last week.

The lawmakers passed four Imran-era bills, including those required to meet conditions of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), after the lower house opened its budget session.

The resolution “condemning” the former prime minister for speaking about the country’s disintegration, threat to nuclear assets and against the armed forces was presented by Federal Minister for Economic Affairs Sardar Ayaz Sadiq.

Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf immediately put it before the house for a voice vote without allowing members to hold a debate.

The opposition Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) opposed the resolution, stating that it should not have been person-specific and must have mentioned all those people who had in the past issued statements targeting the armed forces, the judiciary and the country’s disintegration.

“The House demands that the state should approach the Supreme Court for legal action against the former prime minister as his statement is directly affecting Pakistan’s security and integrity as well as its atomic programme,” said the resolution.

It further says: “This House conde­mns the efforts being made by Imran Niazi to defame the armed forces of Pakistan for political purposes.”

The resolution says that “the House is well aware of the fact that the armed forces are not only discharging their responsibilities according to the Constitution and laws, but are also the guarantors of Pakistan’s geographical boundaries.

“The House acknowledges the sacrifices rendered by the brave armed forces for the defence of the country and tackling the issue of terrorism.”

In an interview with Bol TV last week, the PTI chairman had warned that if Pakistan were to lose its nuclear deterrence, it would break up into “three pieces”.

The NA resolution referred to Mr Khan’s controversial remarks in the interview: “If the establishment doesn’t make the right decisions then I assure you, they and the army will be destroyed, because what will become of the country if it goes bankrupt.”

After passage of the resolution, GDA’s Saira Bano said “we did not sign it as it was against a person” who was not present in the house to defend himself.

She criticised the treasury members for constantly attacking the PTI. She asked the speaker to hold discussion on “real issues” instead of “wasting time on targeting previous rulers”.

Noor Alam Khan, a PTI dissident, said mere resolutions would not serve any purpose and called for holding trial under Article 6 of all those who attack state institutions.

He asked the interior minister to take action against those who had damaged public property during the long march.

Later, speaking on points of order, a number of lawmakers lashed out at Imran Khan for allegedly trying to create anarchy after losing power.

The most hard-hitting speech, however, came from Salahuddin, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) member from Hyderabad.

Mr Salahuddin said it seemed that Imran Khan had “lost senses after losing power”. He held the PTI government responsible for the poor state of the economy.

Meanwhile, the lower house of parliament passed four bills.

The bills passed by the assembly are: National Rahmatul-Lil-Aalameen Authority Bill 2022; the State-Owned Enterprises (Governance and Operations) Bill 2022; the Public Private Partnership Authority (Amendment) Bill 2021 and the National Highways Safety (Amendment) Bill 2021.

Published in Dawn, June 7th, 2022