LAHORE: Former chief minister of Punjab and PTI president Chaudhry Parvez Elahi, while commenting on the disqualification of AJK premier Sardar Tanveer Ilyas for contempt of court has said that it is now Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s turn to be disqualified on the same grounds.

Separately, Punjab Assembly Speaker Sibtain Khan has claimed that the caretaker government in the province is working beyond its mandate as it has issued transfer and posting orders of officers and resorted to victimisation of PTI workers.

Mr Elahi was talking to former provincial ministers Chaudhry Zaheeruddin, Sardar Waqas Moakal, Chaudhry Shabbir Gujjar, Chaudhry Naveed Gondal, Chaudhry Mukhtar Gondal and Asif Irfan, who called on him at his residence on Wednesday.

The PTI president said the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had submitted a report to the Supreme Court that despite the court order, the federal government did not provide funds for holding the elections.

Punjab Assembly speaker questions legality of decisions taken by caretaker govt

“This report is a documentary evidence of the crime committed by the government; no further proof is needed after that report,” he stressed.

Mr Elahi said the ECP report had also been submitted against the caretaker Punjab government, and interim Chief Minister Mohsin Naqvi would also go to jail for not providing the required election security.

“The criminals committing contempt of court don’t deserve any pardon. These incompetent rulers want to push society towards anarchy, which the judiciary will never allow,” he added.

Mr Elahi alleged that PML-N supreme leader Nawaz Sharif had sent Ishaq Dar to Pakistan with an “anti-national agenda” and to make the country default. Under these “incompetent” rulers, he said, there was no possibility of recovery of economy, even in the distant future.

He said poor people were dying for a sack of flour and the patients for medicines, adding that life-saving drugs were rapidly disappearing and pharmaceutical companies were shutting down because they were fed up with Ishaq Dar’s economic policies.

He said even international organisations were constantly expressing concern over the shortage of life-saving drugs in Pakistan.

Speaker’s letter to CM

In a letter sent to the caretaker chief minister on Wednesday, Speaker Sibtain Khan alleged recent events revealed that interim CM Naqvi’s government is working with a prejudice towards PTI as “threats are being hurled at a political party in the name of establishing writ of state, [and] raids [are] are being conducted to arrest PTI workers”.

“Transfers and postings of police officers and bureaucracy across the province at an unprecedented level [indicate] that your government is acting beyond the remit of the powers laid down under section 230 of the Election Act 2017,” read the three-page letter.

“The synergy with which the federal government, led by the political rivals of PTI, and the caretaker government have colluded to harass the political workers of PTI and register criminal cases against them is also unprecedented.”

The letter said press conferences and public statements by cabinet members reflect the caretakers’ political leaning towards the PTI rivals.

It alleged that “the comfort with which the caretaker government is taking policy decisions …,” gives credence to the impression that it has no intention to conduct the Punjab Assembly’s general elections in pursuant to the orders passed by the Supreme Court.

The letter claimed that the number of inquiries and cases being registered with the anti-corruption establishment against PTI leadership also reflects the caretakers’ political leaning.

The speaker urged the chief minister to take steps for “restoring public faith” in his government and immediately bring to an end the victimisation of PTI leaders and workers.

Speaker Khan also reminded Mr Naqvi that the constitutional period of the latter’s government is 90 days from dissolution of the assembly and holding elections within the stipulated period is a constitutional requir­ement violation of which would be tantamount to subversion of the basic law.

Later in a media talk the speaker said that Nawaz Sharif should return home and face court cases at a time when his brother is the prime minister. He said Nawaz Sharif must not be afraid of anything during Shehbaz Sharif’s rule.

Published in Dawn, April 13th, 2023