ISLAMABAD  - The opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Monday urged that a full court of the Supreme Court, ex-cluding those judges who recently took oath, should hear the petitions against the controversial 26th Consti-tutional Amendment at the earliest.

“This is the principled stance of PTI that the 26th Amendment should be fixed for hearing at the earliest and all those judges, prior to passage of the Amendment, of the apex court should sit and decide on it,” said PTI Chairman Gohar Ali Khan while addressing a news conference here along with other senior party lead-ership. He said the party was of the view that those judges who were not beneficiaries of the 26th Amend-ment should decide its fate. “Those who benefited from the amendment should not become a judge in their own cause,” he said, adding that the amendment was passed by the parliament with the fake mandate of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) led ruling coalition in the centre.

Talking on the stalemate of talks, Gohar deplored that the PTI’s negotiations with the government could not move forward, adding that the latter lost the opportunity by evading from the dialogue that was meant to find a political solution to the present crisis.

He said that incarcerated PTI founder Imran Khan, in the capacity of former prime minister and chief of the country’s biggest political party, wrote three letters to Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Asim Munir, which reflected public sentiment. “But unfortunately, these letters are being passed on to one another and no action has been taken so far,” he said, adding that they would speak over the issue in the National As-sembly and the Senate.

“If you will not give space to the workers and supporters of such a big political party, someone else will grab it, which will not be for the benefit of the democracy,” he said, noting that the time has come to take wise decisions for the betterment of the country.

The leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly and senior PTI leader Omar Ayub Khan speaking on his turn said that access of party leadership to the jailed founder of PTI has been blocked by the govern-ment. He claimed that the facilities provided to the ex-premier, according to the jail manual, had also been taken away from him. The entire PTI leadership is being denied facilities in jails, he said, underlining that all are political prisoners.

“There is no supremacy of the constitution and law in Pakistan at the moment. The judiciary should stand on its own feet and say that enough is enough,” he said.

The Leader of Opposition in the Senate Syed Shibli Faraz said that the neighboring country held transparent elections and there was political stability there. “While our rulers did not seize power as a result of the mandate of the people but were installed, leading to rising instability in the country after the February 8 elections,” he said, adding that there was a situation of fear and uncertainty everywhere.

He said politicians who had lost badly as a result of general elections were installed. “Until transparent elections are held in the country, political stability cannot be achieved,” he added.