PDM asks govt to send presidential reference to SC for full court n Says elections to be held on time, govt to complete its full tenure.

ISLAMABAD    -   Pakistan Democratic Move­ment (PDM) Chairman Maula­na Fazlur Rehman on Thursday reiterated that the federal coa­lition government would com­plete its constitutional term and the next general elections would be held on time.

Addressing a press confer­ence along with PDM leaders af­ter chairing a high-level meeting, he informed the media about key points of the discussion during the sitting as well as the two res­olutions adopted unanimously by the forum. He said the PDM in one of its resolutions had demand­ed of the federal government to send a presidential reference to the apex court to constitute a full court for the interpretation of Ar­ticle 63-A of the Constitution.

In the second resolution, he said, the alliance demanded the Election Commission of Paki­stan to immediately announce its verdict on the prohibited funding case of Pakistan Teh­reek-e-Insaf (PTI).

Fazl-ur-Rehman said the meeting had declared that the Constitution of Pakistan clear­ly defined the domains of three state organs, including the leg­islature, the executive and the judiciary. “Under the constitu­tion, no institution can interfere in the affairs or perform the re­sponsibility of others,” he add­ed. The meeting was unanimous that “two different interpreta­tions of Article 63-A came to the fore in the apex court’s ver­dicts” in the cases related to the National Assembly and Punjab chief minister’s election, which had proved correct the con­cerns of civil society, legal fra­ternity, media and political par­ties, he said.

Maulana Fazl maintained that the apex court’s verdict turn­ing down the Punjab Assembly deputy speaker’s ruling had not only created “constitutional and political crises” but also led to political instability in the coun­try. He said the Supreme Court Bar Association and other law­yers organizations across Paki­stan, eminent jurists, media and civil society also disagreed with the decision.

The PDM chief said the meet­ing also demanded that the ECP in accordance with the tenets of law, justice and constitution should announce its decision on the PTI’s prohibited funding case without any further delay.

The delay in the decision was ironic as the irrefutable evi­dences had been provided by the State Bank of Pakistan, be­sides the scrutiny committee’s report and the forensic analy­sis of the PTI’s bank accounts by impartial auditors proved that the party received prohibited funding from abroad.

He alleged that the PTI had concealed dozens of accounts from the Election Commission, in which funds were received from 88 foreign nationals, in­cluding citizens of Israel and In­dia, and 350 foreign companies.

Moreover, the party laundered large sums of money through the private accounts of its head office employees, which it had collected from inside and out­side the country, he added.

The PTI leaders also submit­ted false and fake affidavits, cer­tificates and declarations with the ECP to justify the funding, Maulana Fazl maintained.

The PDM chief said that inor­dinate delay in the PTI’s prohib­ited funding case decision might cause lawlessness in the coun­try as it was giving an impres­sion of “weak institutions”.

Such a situation was not bene­ficial for any democratic society, and therefore, it was imperative for the ECP to immediate an­nounce the decision for ensur­ing the rule of law, he stressed.

He said the alliance leaders were convinced that the PTI leader (Imran Khan) made a mockery of the constitution and the law, which reinforced the impression that he considered himself above law.

Earlier, the PDM met here with its chairman Moulana Fazal ur Rehman in the chair.

The meeting discussed all as­pects of the Supreme Court de­cision and said the request for formation of a full court by the government was ignored.

The meeting strongly con­demned the verdict and decid­ed to go to the public on the de­cision, however, no timeline was decided for a public campaign.

Moulana Fazal ur Rehman gave a proposal to observe black day against the Supreme Court decision, however, due to lack of consensus the proposal was not adopted. According to the sources, the issue of pend­ing resignations of PTI lawmak­ers also came under discussion. Maryam Nawaz immediate­ly demanded acceptance of the PTI MNAs resignations. She also said a strategy must be chalked out in advance for next general elections through the PDM plat­form. PDM leaders were unani­mous in their demand for early announcement of the reserved decision by the Election Com­mission of Pakistan on foreign funding case of PTI.

Former Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbassi was of the view that a final decision be taken by PDM whether to continue with the government or announce general elections and firmly fol­low the final decision.