As Pakistan Tehreek-E-Insaf (PTI) faces an intensifier wave of disqualifications and arrests, the president of the party, Barrimer, Gohar Ali Khan, was on Wednesday with force on the federal government, accusing him of deepening political repression and folding the rules of democracy. Addressing the National Assembly, Gohar said that the government’s conduct was "deteriorating with every day that passes"citing the disqualification of PTI leaders, including the opposition leader Omar Ayub, and the 8 -year renana arrest, as the last one of a series of politically motivated actions.
"The injustice that has been made to us has attracted a generalized public sentence," He said, noting that PTI legislators had chosen to remain in Parliament and not boycott their procedures. "One by one, our legislators were disqualified," He added, calling for the sequence of events a "systematic orientation" of opposition voices. Raising concern for the case of Sheikh Waqas Akram, Gohar said that the movement to disqualify it had emerged from Parliament itself. "It is your responsibility to manage this house in accordance with the Constitution and the rules," Affirmed. In the disturbances of May 9, Gohar reiterated, "We all condemn the incident. We request the President of the Supreme Court for a fair trial, those involved must be punished". However, he argued that PTI parliamentarians had only been accused, not proven guilty, and were subjected to judgments that violated constitutional norms. "The Judiciary treated PTI as a daughters."
In response, the law minister, Azam Nazeer Tarar, defended the legal framework under which PTI leaders had been convicted in the cases of May 9. He stressed that the judicial process had followed its course and that the Government did not have a hand in the verdicts.
"Once a case reached the trial stage, it was the domain of the court to carry out procedures and issue judgments," said the minister. "This is a legal process; Objections can be raised, but the forum to do so is also the court."
Meanwhile, PTI MNA IQBAL Aphridi sounded the alarm for the ongoing military operations in the tribal regions, particularly in Tirah, Bajaur and Waziristan, accusing the state of orchestration what he called a "genocide" of tribal people.
"There were direct shots to civilians in Tirah, killing six people," He said. "The bombing was also carried out in Bajaur, which resulted in more deaths. This violence continues in Waziristan too."
Aphridi also claimed that KP’s prime minister Ali Amin Gandapur had not supported the military operation proposed during the recent meeting of the Apex committee, which implies that the federal government was acting unilaterally. "All this drama is about access to minerals," He said, claiming that attention to tribal areas was only revived after the PTI founder blocked a mineral bill.
"We are homeless, we are suffering, and now we are being painted as criminals," Aphridi said. "Are you determined to divide, and then talk about Kashmir?"
The Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, Dr. Tariq Fazal Chaudhry rejected Afridi’s claims, saying that operations were not being carried out against any specific group or region. "These are unfounded and harmful to the National Unit," said.
