Lahore: In a fresh attack on Pakistan’s powerful military, ousted prime minister Imran Khan Monday said the country is left with two choices — either follow Turkiye or become another Myanmar.
In Myanmar, the military ousted democratically elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in 2021 while in Turkiye, a bloody military coup to topple the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in 2016 was foiled after people came out on the streets and resisted a regime change.
“Today, we stand at a turning point in our Constitutional history where we can be like Turkiye or become another Myanmar. Everyone must choose whether they stand, as PTI does, with Constitution, rule of law and democracy; or with a corrupt mafia, law of the jungle, and fascism,” the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief tweeted Monday.
The Pakistan Army has ruled the coup-prone country for more than half of its 75 plus years of existence and has hitherto wielded considerable power in the matters of security and foreign policy.
Khan has been at loggerheads with the military establishment ever since his ouster from power in April last year by a no-confidence motion. He has asked the establishment to refrain from “political engineering” in the general elections later this year.
After political and economic crises, Pakistan has plunged into a constitutional crisis, following the PMLN-led federal coalition government’s refusal to accept the impending Supreme Court’s decision in holding elections to the Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces assemblies within 90 days of their dissolution in January last.
Khan said seeing its defeat, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and its allied parties don’t want elections in the country either now or in October.
The cricketer-turned-politician said court absconder Nawaz Sharif sitting in London was openly hurling threats at the Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) and other apex court judges.
“We are standing with the SC and the Constitution in the face of the fascist tactics of this imported government to pressure them (SC judges),” Khan said.
The three-member bench of the Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial hearing this case is likely to announce the decision Tuesday.
PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif, who has been living in self-exile in London since November 2019, has asked the CJP and other two judges of the bench to recuse themselves of this case, saying if elections were announced in the two provinces before October 2023, the rupee will further devalue — one US dollar will be available for Rs 500. Currently, one US dollar’s conversion rate to the Pak rupee is Rs 285.
The federal coalition parties have also expressed “complete no-confidence” in the three-member bench, calling upon the court to discontinue the proceedings of the case forthwith.
During a recent huddle, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, his elder brother Nawaz Sharif and his government’s allies have pledged to take the fight to any level, refusing to budge from its stated position on the issue — no elections before October.
Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah said the government was considering moving a case against CJP Bandial and two other members of the bench — Justice Ijaz-ul-Ahsan and Justice Munib Akhtar.
The PML-N and its allies allege that there is an impression that CJP Bandial and some other judges are supporting Imran Khan’s party.
The federal coalition wants elections to all assemblies simultaneously this October.
PTI