LAHORE: Against the backdrop of purported custodial torture of party supporters and enforced disappearances, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) leader Fawad Chaudhry said the incumbent government through its actions was pushing Pakistan towards another era of sanctions.

Addressing a press conference alongside Asad Umar ahead of a protest for the recovery of ‘missing’ PTI leader Azhar Mashwani, the PTI central leader claimed the way the incumbent government was ruling the country, it was driving the country towards “sanctions, FATF list, and removal of its special status” by the European Union.

Mr Chaudhry said that people were being picked up and their whereabouts were not known and added that the international community and the masses had grave concerns about such practices. “The Punjab Police IG and Lahore CCPO are squarely involved [in these violations],” he alleged and added that the PTI was exposing them at home and at international forums.

Referring to the president’s letter to the prime minister and the premier’s consequent response, the PTI leader said the prime minister did not reply to even a single question about upholding the Constitution.

Fawad Chaudhry says ‘constitutional govt’ will soon come to power

Asserting that politics means understanding each other’s point-of-view, Mr Chaudhry said the PML-N was afraid of elections to the extent that it wanted to erode the institution of the Supreme Court and Constitution.

Fearing that Pakistan was heading towards a bigger crisis, Mr Chaudhry said the whole of Pakistan was now looking towards the Supreme Court for the upholding of Constitution. “The elections will be held as per the Constitution and a constitutional government will soon come in power,” he added.

In a response to a statement made by Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah that either Imran Khan or the PML-N will remain, Fawad Chaudhry asked whether Mr Sanaullah was doing politics or running a gang. The Supreme Court had “rightly called them Sicilian mafia”, he quipped. “He considers us his enemies while we [previously] used to think of him as our political rival, but with time it has come to a point where [we also think] that he is our enemy,” the interior minister was quoted by Dawn.com as saying.

Asad Umar said that the next week would serve as a decisive moment in the history of Pakistan as the Supreme Court would be “seen protecting the Constitution”. He lambasted the alleged kidnapping of the PTI social media focal person and demanded that he should be produced before the court if he had violated any law.

Zahoor Mashwani said his brother was missing for the past three days and the Green Town police were not even willing to register an FIR initially. After hectic efforts, a case was registered. Still, he said, police were not investigating to recover his brother.

Separately, PTI Chairman Imran Khan thanked the residents of Lahore for making the Minar-i-Pakistan rally successful.

Posting a map of Lahore pinpointing blockades on different roads and the aerial view of the crowd at the venue on his Twitter account, Mr Khan tweeted: “Despite cabal of crooks locking down Lahore and arresting 2,000 of our workers, people of Lahore came out in huge numbers to make our sixth Minar-i-Pakistan jalsa a great success.”

Published in Dawn, March 27th, 2023