LAHORE: PML-N Secretary General Ahsan Iqbal on Monday rued for not trying Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan under Article 6 for allegedly attacking the parliament in 2014.
“We should have filed a treason case against Imran Khan under Article 6 for attacking the parliament… but we could not, which was our mistake,” Mr Iqbal told a presser in the party’s secretariat in Model Town here.
The attack on the parliament was a ‘grave crime’ as it was tantamount to attacking on the constitution.
When asked whether the Nawaz Sharif government in 2014 had weighed the option of registering a treason case against Mr Khan, Mr Ahsan said: “I was not privy to any such discussion then. However, we committed this mistake for the larger interest as we did not want to be accused of political victimisation.”
Ahsan rues missed opportunity when PTI attacked PTV, parliament in 2014
A party insider told Dawn that after the PTI’s alleged attack on the PTV and the parliament during its sit-in in Islamabad in 2014, the hawkish elements in the party had asked Mr Sharif to book Mr Khan under Article 6 but he could not take a decision to the effect saying that it would not work as the ‘powers that be’ were with him (Khan).
Last year, an anti-terrorism court had acquitted Prime Minister Imran Khan in the 2014 Parliament House attack case.
On Sept 1, 2014, hundreds of protesters belonging to the PTI and Dr Tahirul Qadri’s Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT), had allegedly ransacked the PTV headquarters and the Parliament House and brutally beaten a senior police official. During the sit-in, Imran Khan, Tahirul Qadri and several others were booked for their alleged involvement in the attack.
Ahsan Iqbal also claimed that Imran Khan along with the ‘local and international establishment’ had tried his utmost to topple the PML-N government in 2014. “It was an open secret that Imran Khan along with the then DG ISI was conspiring against the elected government. With the help of the international lobbies Imran Khan had created hurdles in the visit of the Chinese president and got it postponed.”
Mr Ahsan was of the view that his party’s target was not PPP but Imran Khan and this ‘artificial’ system. “Our struggle is to wrap up this ‘test tube system’ and ensure that this country is run as per the Constitution,” he said and claimed that the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) after exclusion of PPP and ANP got stronger as all the remaining eight parties in it had a ‘complete’ harmony.
The PML-N leader further said the Imran Khan government was telling a lie on its economic achievements as it burdened the nation with a loan of Rs13,000 billion and it completely failed in tax collection. The defeat in every by-election showed the [eroding] popularity of the PTI government which had made the lives of the masses miserable.
Terming the CPEC Authority a fraud and a burden on the national exchequer, Mr Iqbal said: “Those who had raised funds for Imran Khan do not want the success of the CPEC.”
Flanked by deputy secretary general of the party Atta Tarar, Mr Iqbal warned the PTI government against making any plan to postpone the Azad Kashmir election. “The PTI is not finding candidates for all seats in Azad Kashmir and any move to postpone the polls there amounts to strengthening Modi,” he said.
To a question about PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif’s effort to bring about reconciliation with the establishment, Mr Iqbal said: “We support any reconciliation if the country is run as per the Constitution.”
Published in Dawn, June 1st, 2021
