Imran resettled extremists in Pakistan to target political opponents: Ahsan

In an interview with The Nation/Nawa-e-Waqt, minister defends ECP decision on elections saying if Punjab polls are held in 90 days, the province will have veto power in next general elections n Govt cannot allow political and legal chaos in country.

ISLAMABAD    –    Federal Min­ister for Plan­ning Ahsan Iqbal has al­leged that Im­ran Khan has called back ex­tremist ele­ments in Pa­kistan from Afghanistan as he intends to target his political opponents through these peo­ple to limit their movement and keep them away from elec­tioneering.

He said that Imran Khan has resettled the extremists from Af­ghanistan in Pakistan, and his purpose was that he wanted to work with them, and eliminate his political opponents from the election through the extremists.

In an exclusive interview with The Nation/Nawa-e-Waqt here yesterday, Ahsan Iqbal criticized Imran Khan for his policies and attitude saying he was creating instability in the country.

On the ECP move to postpone the Punjab elections, the minister said the government has a strong case to defend in the Supreme Court. The Election Commission will defend it­self, as they also have a strong case, he added. He opined that the Supreme Court ig­nored the important things in the decision while order­ing to hold the election with­in 90 days. “If the decision of the Supreme Court regarding holding elections within 90 days is followed, Punjab will have the veto power in the next general elections and it will have implications for the federation,” he said.

He was of the view that the other three provinces will be marginalized and they will not have any voice in the gen­eral elections. He maintained that the government can­not allow political and legal chaos in the country. He said that the provincial elections should not affect the nation­al elections. The Council of Common Interests during Imran Khan’s tenure had de­cided that the new elections should be based on the new census. Now, if the decision of the Supreme Court is im­plemented, veto power will come to Punjab, first the government of Punjab will be formed and then whoev­er forms the government in the province will dominate the upcoming national elec­tions. This may have implica­tions for the federation, Ah­san said. The Supreme Court should have applied its mind, he said and adding that the judiciary, if it gives such de­cisions in which bias is seen, what will happen to the rep­utation of the judiciary? The civil rule of law will end, he said. The Minister further said that if the decisions of the Supreme Court in the in­terpretation of the Constitu­tion are subject to political interest, then the constitu­tional scheme will end.

The decision given by the Supreme Court is not an in­terpretation of the Consti­tution but rather it is an amendment to the Consti­tution, he remarked. The Election Commission of Pa­kistan and other concerned institutions were not heard. The Supreme Court should have listened to them. Ahsan Iqbal said that the decision of the Election Commission to postpone the elections in Punjab is in accordance with the Constitution. According to the Constitution, general elections should be held to­gether, so everyone should have a ‘level-playing field’, he maintained. When Imran Khan had dissolved the pro­vincial assemblies of Punjab and KP, he acted like a sui­cide bomber, the minister said. “It was his suicide at­tack on the system, and now he is worried,” he added.

The Supreme Court de­cided to hold the elections within 90 days and ignored important things, the min­ister maintained. When we were prompting Imran for dissolution of the provin­cial assemblies, it was ac­tually part of our strategy and the aim was to remove Imran Khan so that he can­not use the provincial re­sources for the fulfilling of his political misadventures, the planning minister said. “We were successful in our strategy,” he claimed.

Regarding the availability of Armed Forces for the elec­tion security, the minister said that the Ministry of De­fense has made it clear that the army is not available for the elections. They have their own security plan, and they are saying that if they are deputed for the elec­tions, they will have to stop the operations, he added.

Article source: https://www.nation.com.pk/24-Mar-2023/imran-resettled-extremists-in-pakistan-to-target-political-opponents-ahsan