Shehbaz Sharif assails PM Khan for imposing ‘civilian martial law’

PML-N president says Imran Khan and his government desecrated Constitution of Pakistan

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz President Shehbaz Sharif on Monday assailed Prime Minister Imran Khan for imposing a “civilian martial law” in the country, declaring his move “unconstitutional”.

He was addressing a press conference alongside Pakistan People’s Party Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) leader Asad Mehmood, Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan Convener Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui, and others. Sharif said that PM, along with his party members, have unashamedly desecrated the Constitution of Pakistan.

“April 3 will be remembered as a black day in the history of Pakistan,” he said, adding that premier had imposed civilian martial law. He declared the four-year tenure of the former Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf administration as “an individual government, totalitarian and fascist”.

Speaking about Sunday’s ruling of the NA deputy speaker Qasim Khan Suri concerning the no-confidence motion, he asked, “If Qasim Suri termed the motion as ‘unconstitutional’, why wasn’t it raised earlier?” He went on to say that PTI used Article 5 to prevent itself from the embarrassment it would have faced after their defeat in case of voting on the no-confidence motion.

Speaking out on the “foreign threat letter” controversy, PML-N president said that Pakistan’s Ambassador Asad Majeed had held a farewell dinner on March 16 and invited all US officials, including the ones accused by PM Khan.

“If the letter was dated March 7 and highlighted the involvement of Donald Lu, why was the ambassador acknowledging the US official during the dinner on March 16,” he questioned, asking why Lu was invited for the dinner if he had threatened Pakistan.

Moreover, Pakistan People’s Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari stated that the Supreme Court should stop Imran Khan’s coup and form a full court bench to deal with the political crisis.

Bilawal termed what occurred in the National Assembly a “blatant violation of the constitution”.

He stated that the no-confidence motion was a legal way to remove the prime minister and he had derailed the process by violating the constitution.