PESHAWAR: Former president and Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf leader Dr Arif Alvi on Tuesday said that all military officers who were involved in political activities should be investigated.

Talking to reporters on the Peshawar High Court’s premises here, the former president complained that PTI leaders had been booked under the laws, which were made to punish terrorists and not political activists.

He said that the military courts were not active when PTI founder Imran Khan was the prime minister and instead, they were hearing cases even before he came to power.

Mr Alvi said that the federal government had “ruined” the country in order to keep the PTI founder behind bars.

Complains PTI leaders booked under anti-terror laws

He wondered why the $70 billion foreign investment promised by the rulers had yet not come to the country.

On the occasion, PTI leader and former National Assembly speaker Asad Qaiser regretted the Supreme Court’s decision to allow the trial of civilians by the military courts.

He said that the PTI wanted the judiciary to function independently in the country.

Mr Qiaser said that his party had opposed the government’s pressure on courts and wanted the cases to be decided on “merit.”

He claimed that all cases against the incarcerated PTI founder were politically motivated.

The PTI leader added that his party’s lawmakers had been falsely booked for terrorism, murder and treason.

He said that staging peaceful protests was the right of every citizen and that the PTI workers didn’t damage even a single flower pot during their demonstrations.

Mr Qaiser said that the PTI was making a struggle to ensure the supremacy of the Constitution in the country.

Opposition leader in the National Assembly Omar Ayub Khan, who was also present on the occasion, said that he couldn’t say anything about talks with the “security establishment and aliens.”

He said that the party would move the superior courts against the military court’s verdicts to convict civilians for the May 9 protests.

Published in Dawn, December 25th, 2024