Islamabad (National Times) Responding to the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder\u2019s remarks that the state’s frantic push to amend the constitution was only to keep him imprisoned, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif claimed on Tuesday that Imran Khan’s myriad crimes alone were enough to keep him behind bars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cGiven PTI founder’s long list of crimes, constitutional amendments won’t be necessary,\u201d asserted Asif while talking to Geo News.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“The incarcerated former premier wants to attach himself not just to constitutional amendments but to everything [that’s happening] in Pakistan as he considers himself the centre of everything.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A day earlier, Khan claimed that the ruling coalition’s constitutional amendments package was designed to prolong his incarceration and described the proposed changes as disastrous for the country and the judiciary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe PTI founder should reflect on what chaos he created in the last four years. There was an attempted rebellion [against the state] on May 9 [last year], the defence czar added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Some individuals from armed forces, who were in cahoots with ex-ISI chief Lt Gen (retd) Faiz Hameed. were also involved in the May 9 mayhem.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSince the PTI founder has been in custody, he has repeatedly \u2014 like three to four thousand times\u2014 said that he will talk to the establishment,\u201d the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also rejected the opposition parties\u2019 allegations of keeping the amendments under wraps, saying that the draft legislation was \u201ca public document whose contents are not a secret\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Despite Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif-led coalition government’s failure to get the required number to pass the amendments which led to the indefinite postponement of its tabling yesterday, Asif was optimistic about the passage of new legislation through the parliament, come what may.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Defending the coalition government\u2019s move to make judiciary-centric constitutional amendments, Asif stated that the changes aimed at maintaining a balance of power among institutions, not just at ensuring accountability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Claiming that the PTI was willing to support the constitutional package, he revealed that “the former ruling party has requested the government to postpone the amendment until December.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To another question, Asif said that the superior judiciary was dealing with the appointment of judges as it had only five serving judges each from every chamber.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He lamented that politicians always faced accountability and cases for their failures but their salaries were only Rs200,000. “On the other hand, judges are receiving big salaries clubbed with perks but 27,000 cases are still pending in different courts,” said Asif.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The politico was apparently responding to Khan\u2019s queries over the proposed establishment of a constitutional court for the latter alleged yesterday that “current rulers are afraid of the Supreme Court, therefore, they want to constitute a [separate] constitutional court”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
PTI’s Barrister Gohar rejects Asif\u2019s claims “Neither have we been involved in any discussions with Asif, nor has PTI assured support for the government’s constitutional amendments until December,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He categorically rejected Asif\u2019s claims, asserting that any statement about PTI\u2019s approval would be false, as the “draft, suggestion, or package has not yet been disclosed.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n The politico added that while his party\u2019s lawmakers had requested the draft of the proposed changes from the government, PTI has never promised to support the new legislation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Treasury and opposition benches have engaged in a tug-of-war in both houses of the parliament over the incumbent government\u2019s constitutional amendment legislation that allegedly aims to extend the tenure of Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa \u2014 who is set to retire in October this year \u2014 as well as the retirement age of the judges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, the government needs to secure a two-thirds majority in parliament to successfully pass any constitutional amendment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The ruling parties continued their strenuous efforts to get Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) Chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman’s assent to the proposed amendments and held multiple meetings to convince him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On the other hand, opposition parties \u2014 PTI and JUI-F \u2014 have criticised the government for being secretive about the content of the constitutional amendments, arguing that the original draft should be presented in Parliament for debate before approval.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the National Assembly, the government is short of 13 votes to pass the proposed constitutional amendment, while in the Senate, it is in need of nine.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Islamabad (National Times) Responding to the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder\u2019s remarks that the state’s frantic push to amend the constitution was only to keep him imprisoned, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif claimed on Tuesday that Imran Khan’s myriad crimes alone were enough to keep him behind bars. \u201cGiven PTI founder’s long list of crimes, constitutional amendments […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":89810,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-89809","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national","entry"],"yoast_head":"\n
<\/strong>In response to Asif\u2019s statement, PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan told Geo News that the defence minister was not part of the parliamentary special committee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n