PDM for full court to hear plea against Punjab CM’s election

PML-N adopts aggressive policy of building pressure on institutions

After facing a humiliating defeat in the by-polls and evading a possible ouster of Hamza Shehbaz from the chief minister’s (CM) office, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and its allies are going to adopt aggressive policy to counter the narrative of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan.

The ruling alliance is pressing for the formation of a full court on the petition challenging the election of the Punjab CM. A joint declaration was issued by the ruling alliance of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) on Saturday, demanding a full court in the case regarding the election of Hamza Shehbaz. The election was challenged in the Supreme Court by PTI candidate Chaudhry Parvez Elahi and the apex court remarked that the office of Hamza was in danger.

According to the joint declaration issued by the ruling alliance, the chief justice of Pakistan was urged to constitute a full court in the case of Hamza Shehbaz, and include the review petition filed by the Supreme Court Bar Association pertaining to the matter.

The joint declaration further said that it was a national, political and constitutional matter and the country was facing political instability due to it. “Imran Khan is repeatedly creating chaos only to avoid his corruption and accountability,” it said. The powers of parliament, judiciary and executive are very well defined in the constitution and one individual is trying to erode them, it added. “All parties of [the] ruling alliance will move forward jointly and will fight the darkness of fascism together,” the declaration concluded.

Sources within the PML-N told this scribe that the demand of full court is meant to build pressure on the judiciary to counter the narrative of Imran Khan. “We have felt that Imran Khan gets favourable results whenever he builds pressure on institutions and now we’ll also follow the same policy to counter him,” a PML-N leader said on the condition of anonymity. Saturday’s pressers of senior PML-N leaders Ahsan Iqbal, Rana Sanaullah, Atta Tarar and Talal Chaudhry are part of this newly adopted policy of aggression. Talal, who is considered close to the camp of Nawaz Sharif, told the media that a new PML-N would be visible from now onwards.

Talal, who himself faced disqualification for criticising state institutions, said there should be no double standards of accountability in the country. He also claimed that the PML-N was not being given a level playing field in politics. “Imran Khan is still the most favourite ‘ladla’,” he said. Similar views were expressed by Federal Minister Ahsan Iqbal, who said that Imran Khan always tries to build up pressure on institutions to get favourable results. “Our leaders got disqualified due to contempt of court but no one summoned Imran Khan for committing the same crime,” Ahsan said. He also requested the Supreme Court to keep the yardstick same for both the PML-N and the PTI.

“The PML-N lost only one by-election in more than three years when it was on the track of aggression, and now we lost 16 seats by adopting the reconciliatory policy,” an MPA from Lahore told this scribe.

It has also been learnt that PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz has decided to hold regular meetings at Model Town secretariat to take the command of aggressive politics. Her team has started visiting the secretariat on a daily basis and she is likely to sit there soon.

Meanwhile, a day after election of Hamza Shehbaz, an important meeting took place between Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, former president Asif Ali Zardari and PML-Q head Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain. According to reports, the troika discussed political situation of the country, while the premier and former president thanked the PML-Q head for his support in the crucial election of the Punjab CM. Economic situation of the country as well as upcoming general election were also discussed in the meeting.

Meanwhile, Shehbaz tweeted that corruption had increased and transfers and postings were on sale during the tenure of Imran Khan, as per the Transparency International report. He also said that “people are paying the price of how he (Imran) mismanaged the economy”, adding that the former premier “deeply hurt the global prestige & standing of the country and its relations with friendly countries”.

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