Former Punjab chief minister (CM) and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) President Pervaiz Elahi Friday said that Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) Quaid Nawaz Sharif is running a smear campaign against Imran Khan and the judiciary while sitting abroad. Former National Assembly (NA) Speaker Asad Qaiser and Senator Zeeshan Khanzada held a meeting with Pervaiz Elahi during which they dis-cussed the political situation, Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) elec-tions. Pervaiz Elahi said that Imran Khan has always respected law and the judiciary, whereas, the ‘ineligible’ ru-lers are now staining the democracy by committing constitutional violations. He said that the cases against Imran Khan were filed at the behest of the ruling PML-N for political victimisa-tion. The former Punjab CM said that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) also showed a lack of confidence in the ineligible rulers who are now trying to appease the Fund by dropping the in-flation bomb on the nation. He asked the current rulers to hold elections fol-lowing the directives of the Supreme Court (SC).
He said that stopping political activities after the announcement of the election schedule is against the Constitution, the re-implementation of Article 144 in Lahore is unconstitutional and the punishment is Article 6.
The process of submission of nomination papers has started, all candidates will go to submit papers in the form of rallies, how can Section 144 be implemented in such a situation. Pervaiz Elahi said that the fear of Imran Khan’s popularity does not let the rulers sleep at night. At the behest of the federal government, the caretaker Punjab government is not allowing the election environment to be created, the Constitution of Pakistan gives the right to all political parties to conduct political campaigns. He said that the caretaker government wanted to stop the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s election campaign under the cover of PSL match. PSL’s route is different while rally’s is different, their intellect is muddled, who is the caretaker gov-ernment pleasing by obstructing the election campaign, he concluded.
