DERA GHAZI KHAN: PTI Chairman Imran Khan, expressing his disappointment with the detailed verdict issued by the Supreme Court in suo motu case against the ruling of the deputy speaker on Wednesday night, said the top court should have probed the issue after President Arif Alvi shared it with the chief justice.

“I feel deeply hurt” by the remarks made by the court that there was no investigation regarding the threat letter, Mr Khan said while addressing a rally in Dera Ghazi Khan’s PP-28 constituency on Thursday. “I produced the cipher before the federal cabinet. We have the minutes of the meeting. I took this letter to the meeting of the National Security Committee and even tabled it in parliament,” Imran Khan claimed.

The commission formed by the government to investigate the alleged conspiracy was disbanded after the ouster of the PTI government, the ex-PM said, adding that the letter was even shared with the chief justice. “What else could I have done,” Mr Khan “respectfully” asked the five-member bench that issued the judgement.

According to the PTI chief, the CJP should have investigated the issue when Mr Alvi shared the letter with him. In a reference to suo motu notice that overturned Qasim Suri’s April 3 ruling regarding the dismissal of the no-confidence motion against Mr Khan, the former PM said the top judge took suo motu notice and opened courts at night but an elected PM was removed through an alleged conspiracy yet nothing was done.

Says apex court should have probed cipher to find out who US threat was addressed to

Mr Khan said the court should have investigated to whom this message for the removal of the PM was addressed. If there was no action regarding the conspiracy then in future no prime minister of Pakistan would take a stand for the country, he claimed.

Mr Khan hurled accusations at Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja once again. “CEC Raja, you are the election commissioner for the entire country, but why do you spend three days in Lahore,” he alleged. He claimed to have the “records” of Mr Raja’s meetings with the PML-N and said the nation would not forgive him.

Mr Khan said that despite the nexus of the PML-N and the ‘umpires’, the PTI will emerge victorious in Punjab by-elections.

Tariq Saeed Birmani also contributed to this report

Published in Dawn, July 15th, 2022