ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan on Thursday warned the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz that its proclivity to bypass state institutions was what posed a real and present danger to the democratic system in the country.

In a rare appearance on the floor of the National Assembly, Mr Khan claimed that it was the ruling party’s own policies — and not him — which are derailing the system they were so bent on protecting. In the same breath, he also made an impassioned appeal to the treasury benches to stand up against Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and demand accountability for his alleged involvement in money laundering.

“For God’s sake, forget about your ministries and privileges and think about your country for once. Don’t forget that in the world hereafter, you will have to answer God Almighty, not Nawaz Sharif,” Mr Khan thundered.

The PTI leader had come to the National Assembly to “ask a few questions from National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq”, who had forwarded a reference seeking his (Imran’s) disqualification from the assembly to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).

Says he doesn’t consider Ayaz Sadiq the speaker anymore; Saad Rafique claims PTI shouldn’t be taken seriously

“I wish Mr Sadiq was here, because I no longer consider him the speaker due to his partial decision in favour of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. I accept that Mr Sadiq might think the ECP needs to investigate queries regarding my declaration of assets, but what about the PM’s own admission that his dependent (Maryam Nawaz Sharif) owns offshore companies, which were never mentioned in his declaration,” asked the PTI leader.

When Dawn approached the NA speaker’s public relations wing, they said Mr Sadiq had deliberately stayed away from house proceedings while Mr Khan delivered his speech.

“Since the speaker as custodian of the house has given his decision on the reference, his personally responding to the queries flagged by Mr Khan didn’t make sense,” commented the speaker’s spokesperson.

Since Mr Sadiq had defeated Mr Khan in NA-122 and reclaimed the same seat in a by-election against another PTI candidate, there was a personal element involved between the two, which he didn’t want to get into.

However, Mr Sadiq’s detractors argued he should have stayed back and boldly faced Mr Khan. After all, he held the all-important office of speaker; what if Mr Khan were to regularly start attending sessions of the National Assembly, what would he do then, asked a PTI lawmaker, tongue-in-cheek.

Presenting documentary evidence and explaining his ownership of the flat in London, which he sold through an offshore company, the PTI chairman asked: “Why question my declaration of assets now? Why not at the time of the 2013 general elections?”

The PTI is only seeking clarification of the anomalies that came to the fore following different statements by members of the Sharif family about their properties in London, Mr Khan added.

In his speech, the PTI leader also rued that all state institutions, including the Supreme Court, had refused to take up the issue of the Panama Papers. “Can somebody please tell me where I should go to raise this issue?”

“I am only left with the option of telling the people of Pakistan that they need to stand up for their rights against corruption. But in this, the government sees a conspiracy against democracy and accuses me of trying to bring the army into power.”

He said that a team of PTI lawyers, with 90 years of combined experience, had prepared a petition against the prime minister in the background of the Panama Papers, which the Supreme Court registrar found “frivolous.”

Throughout his speech, Mr Khan warned the government that by not allowing democratic institutions to play their due role, it was only further weakening the nascent democracy in the country.

Following Mr Khan’s speech, the opposition staged a walkout against the speaker over what Shah Mehmood Qureshi termed “discharging his duties in a highly partial way”.

Mr Qureshi informed the house that at a meeting earlier during the day, the combined opposition had decided to register their protest against the speaker by staging a token walkout from the house. A participant of the meeting told Dawn that if the speaker didn’t mend his ways and continued to toe the government line, the opposition would announce a future course of action after Eid.

In response to Mr Khan, railways minister Khawaja Saad Rafique said the PTI chairman had a habit of ridiculing and criticising institutions, as well as all those who opposed him, “therefore, he shouldn’t be taken seriously.”

In a detailed speech Mr Rafique blamed Mr Khan for spoiling the country’s political culture and weakening democracy in the country. The minister explained in detail how Mr Khan himself had been involved in setting up an offshore company and buying properties through dubious means.

“There are a number of questions which the speaker has duly raised in his decision on the reference filed against Mr Khan, which require investigation,” Mr Rafique said.

Published in Dawn, September 9th, 2016