PESHAWAR: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan on Tuesday warned of launching street protests if former prime minister Nawaz Sharif resorted to using parliament against the judiciary.
A day earlier, Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi had come down hard on the superior judiciary during a National Assembly session, criticising it over calling the elected representatives ‘thieves and looters’.
Speaking to media during a visit to Peshawar, the PTI chief said that the Supreme Court had treated Nawaz Sharif like no other citizen. His contemptuous remarks are continuously being ignored, he added.
“In 1997, PML-N attacked Supreme Court with sticks and tried to evade punishments by bribing judges of the Quetta bench,” Imran said, adding, “This is how a mafia works.”
The PTI chief claimed that the accountability court’s verdict against Nawaz Sharif, who is facing three corruption references following his disqualification in the Panama Papers case, will be out soon. “They are scared [of the upcoming verdict],” he said, adding that Nawaz had ample opportunity to defend himself during the trial.
Regarding the upcoming Senate elections, Imran said horse-trading was rampant and the seats were being ‘auctioned’. “Many are offering Rs 400 million in exchange for the votes,” he said. “We have nominated six senators from our party and we are unanimously supporting them,” he added.
Published in Daily Times, February 21st 2018.
