LAHORE: “Pakistan is not only standing on the verge of a constitutional crisis, it has long slipped into a full-blown constitutional crisis for over four years with the denial of constitutional rights, the rule of law and the supremacy of the Constitution in practice,” contend PTI leaders incarcerated at Kot Lakhpat Jail.
The joint statement by Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Dr Yasmin Rashid, Mian Mahmoodur Rashid, Umar Sarfraz Cheema and Senator Ejaz Chaudhry has been shared by their counsel Rana Mudassir Umar here on Saturday.
Mr Qureshi and other leaders stated the events surrounding the Feb 8 2024 general elections deepened this crisis.
“Even greater concern is the continuing use of the criminal-justice system against political opponents,” they lamented and added that the courts and judicial processes were meant to be the ultimate safeguard against executive excess and political victimisation.
They said the judiciary could not become an instrument of political engineering, nor can prolonged incarceration, selective prosecution or denial of due process become substitutes for democratic accountability.
“We are particularly concerned that constitutional rights could not be treated as privileges granted at the discretion of those exercising state power”.
The right to liberty, dignity, fair trial, political association, peaceful expression and participation in the democratic process belongs to every citizen, not to a particular political party or government, they added.
Mr Qureshi said Pakistan did not need a new constitutional crisis to be feared; Pakistan needs its existing constitutional crisis to be acknowledged and resolved.
They said the solution was neither confrontation nor the suppression of dissent. “The solution is the restoration of constitutional supremacy, respect for the people’s mandate, independence of the judiciary, equality before law, due process, fundamental rights and accountability of every institution within the limits prescribed by the Constitution,” they explained.
The PTI leaders appealed to all institutions and political forces to end confrontation and return to the constitutional framework.
Published in Dawn, October 4th, 2026
