LAHORE: Punjab Prisons Minister Fayyazul Hassan Chohan has vowed to get a case registered against PML-N leader Javed Latif over his remarks about state institutions.

Speaking at a press conference here on Sunday, Mr Chohan said he would file a case against the Leaguer from Sheikhupura for making statements allegedly against state institutions. Mr Latif wanted to prove his loyalties by saying that he would not raise the slogan of ‘long live Pakistan’ to protest the alleged threat to PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz by an army officer. He lamented that the Election Commission of Pakistan had not taken action against the legislator despite passage of two days since he uttered those remarks, he added.

The minister alleged that former prime minister Nawaz Sharif wanted to spread chaos and anarchy in the country to accomplish the agenda of the anti-state forces.

He told a questioner that Pakistan Democratic Movement’s candidate Yousuf Raza Gillani had won his Senate seat from Islamabad through the use of money as his popularity among the parliamentarians was exposed in the subsequent elections for the Senate chairman.

He advised the opposition to honour parliamentary traditions after its defeat in the Senate election and respect the mandate of the prime minister.

Meanwhile, Adviser to the Chief Minister Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan also chided the PML-N leadership for, what she claimed, levelling false allegations against state institutions for their momentary benefits.

She tweeted that “pitching the convicted, fake princess against national security reflects the mental decline of Javed Latif and N League!” To set the record straight, she said, the N-League held Zulfikar Ali Bhutto responsible for the fall of Dhaka and Zardari for the martyrdom of Benazir Bhutto.

In another tweet, she said that by levelling allegations against state institutions for its momentary benefits, the PML-N was in no way serving the national cause. Such baseless allegations won’t damage Pakistan and its institutions, but would expose Javed Latif and other such “courtiers”, she added.

A few hundred people also staged a demonstration against Mr Latif at Liberty Chowk here on Sunday. Raising slogans against the PML-N MNA, the protesters burnt effigies of Latif and Maryam Nawaz.

A group of people had earlier encircled the residence of Mr Latif in Sheikhupura had manhandled him over his statement on Saturday.

Published in Dawn, March 15th, 2021