Current System Has Lost Public Trust, Reset Is Inevitable, Says PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar

Rawalpindi: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan has said that the current political system has lost the confidence of the public and requires a “reset,” urging that the people be given the opportunity to decide the country’s future.

Speaking to the media outside Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi, Barrister Gohar said a key coalition partner of the government had publicly described the prime minister as the product of a rigged election. He added that although he also believes the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) benefited from electoral rigging, the coalition partner’s statement should have prompted the prime minister to immediately seek a vote of confidence.

He claimed that the prime minister’s silence and failure to seek a confidence vote reflected a loss of political support. According to Gohar, the government’s structure has effectively collapsed and it has lost its moral, constitutional, legal, and democratic legitimacy.

The PTI chairman further stated that the prime minister no longer enjoys public confidence and argued that the time has come to end the current system. He said that rather than forming new governments under the existing arrangement, the leadership should return to the people through a fresh public mandate.

Barrister Gohar noted that the Constitution provides a legal mechanism for bringing a vote of no confidence and said PTI would consult its allies on the matter. He stressed that political consensus should be built to resolve the country’s ongoing political crisis in the national interest.

He also said that parliament must seriously address the demands of the provinces, adding that there should be broad agreement on the need to reset the political system. However, he questioned who was responsible for bringing the system to what he described as its current “default mode.”