Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday said that the eight years-long delay in the decision of foreign funding case against Imran Khan evidenced how “Ladla” was being protected.
The prime minister, in a tweet, said that the former prime minister Nawaz Sharif was disqualified for not taking salary while contrary to that the PTI leader was being treated as “untouchable.”
He said that despite the passage of eight years, the decision in the foreign funding case was yet elusive.
He said that in the foreign funding case, Imran Khan filed nine writ petitions in the Islamabad High Court and also got 50 adjournments.
In a similar tweet on July 19, the prime minister had asked the Election Commission of Pakistan to announce the “long-delayed” judgment on PTI foreign funding case.
He said that for long Imran Khan had been been given a free pass despite his “repeated and shameless” attacks on state institutions. “Impunity given to him has hurt the country,” he commented.
Meanwhile Minister of State for Petroleum Musaddiq Malik on Thursday questioned the “double standards” of justice and asked for a level-playing field for all the political parties in the country.
“We have always accepted all decisions of the courts, but we also ask of them to bring about a real verdict,” Malik said while addressing a presser in Islamabad.
The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader further asked for “equal standards” of justice for all.
He went on to say that all verdicts will eventually be in the “courts of the masses”.
Malik, on the occasion, also asked for a prompt verdict in the PTI’s foreign funding case. “There is no room in the Constitution of the country to run your political party via foreign funding.”
The PML-N leader also said that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan had been targeting the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to continue to pressurise it ahead of the decision in the foreign funding case.
Speaking on the occasion, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leader Qamar Zaman Kaira said that the coalition government wanted an early decision on the foreign funding case.
According to Kaira, delaying tactics are being used to put the case on the back-burner.
Both the leaders assured media persons that there is no dispute among coalition parties and that the alliance is on one page.
In a devastating blow to the nascent Shehbaz Sharif-led ruling coalition, the apex court struck down Punjab Assembly Deputy Speaker Dost Muhammad Mazari’s ruling on the election of Punjab chief minister, paving the way for PTI’s selected Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi to ascend to the throne in the country’s political heartland.
The decision was welcomed by the PTI chairman, who hailed the judiciary for “remaining firm”. Also, in his televised address on Wednesday night, the former premier reiterated his demand of snap elections in the country.
