Emergency Does Not Dissolve the Cabinet; You Have Dissolved the Entire Public Mandate: Barrister Gohar

Islamabad (Qudrat Daily): Chairman Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Barrister Gohar Ali Khan, while strongly condemning the federal government, has said that the KP Chief Minister has been placed under detention and contact with him has been cut off. The government is using emergency as a means to launch a night attack on democracy and the public mandate. Constitutionally, the imposition of emergency or Governor’s Rule does not automatically dissolve the provincial cabinet and government, but today the federation has suspended and dissolved the entire province’s two-thirds public mandate.

Speaking to the media, Barrister Gohar Ali Khan expressed a strong reaction and said that the rulers should look into their own collars. All three sisters and a cousin of PTI founder Imran Khan were arrested, people are imprisoned in Kot Lakhpat and Adiala Jail, and more than 1,500 of our workers are currently locked up in Punjab’s jails. Were all these revenge actions and arrests carried out to stop terrorism?

He further said that the rulers think they are only settling accounts with us, but in reality they have settled the entire country, the Constitution, and democracy. When in history has it happened that an elected Chief Minister of a province with a two-thirds majority is kept in custody and even contact with him is not possible? We are receiving reports that Chief Minister Sohail Afridi has been placed under house arrest and kept in detention. This does not happen anywhere in the world.

The PTI Chairman further said that in more than 15 meetings held with the government since August 5, the subject of terrorism was not even mentioned in any single session. On October 2, during negotiations, when the matter of terrorism was suddenly raised, we immediately clarified to the government delegation that we should have sought the agenda of the negotiations beforehand. We were under the impression that discussions were being held on the constitutional demands of a political party, but the government’s real agenda was something else, which has now come to light in the form of emergency.