'Facilitator made positive move' who arranged his meeting with Imran Khan in jail: Swati

After the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) postponed its power show in Islamabad following the incarcerated party founder's directives, senior leader Azam Swati said on Monday that whoever facilitated his meeting with Imran Khan in Adiala Jail had made a "positive move".

"It was a positive move to protect the system of Pakistan," said Swati outside the Supreme Court while pointing towards his meeting with the former prime minister at Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi earlier this week before the former ruling party rescheduled his Islamabad power show from August 22 to September 8.

He went on to say that his party was not expecting any kind of concession [from the government] after postponing its Islamabad rally. Swati added that the PTI only wanted the implementation of the law and the Constitution in the country.

The Imran-founded party made all-out efforts to stage a huge power show in the federal capital apparently to revive its diminishing political strength, however, it went in vain after the city administration denied permission citing security reasons.

The postponement decision was taken after Swati held a meeting with the PTI founder in the Rawalpindi Central Jail on the day of the Islamabad rally in which the latter gave permission to the party leadership to defer the jalsa.

PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan also confirmed the development on Thursday.

However, in a recent audio statement, Aleema Khan, sister of the ousted premier who was removed from office in April 2022, resented the move, criticising the PTI leadership for not having any "real intention" of getting the party founder out of jail.

In a short audio clip, purportedly featuring the voice of Aleema, questions were raised about why Swati visited Imran early in the morning and at whose behest. “Who instructed him [Swati] to meet Imran at 7 am and deliver a message regarding the rally’s postponement?”

Welcoming PTI's decision, the federal government's spokesperson on legal affairs, Barrister Aqeel Malik, claimed that the Centre approached Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur for the cancellation of the public gathering.

He also confirmed that the party had been given conditional permission for a rally on September 8.

In yet another blow, the party also shelved its power show in Lahore scheduled for August 27 "to focus on the forthcoming Islamabad rally” without giving a new date, according to the former ruling party's Secretary of Information for Punjab, Shaukat Mahmood Basra.

The development is being dubbed another dent in the political reputation of the embattled party, which has suffered back-to-back setbacks in holding its political events.

Gohar slams 'secret legislation'

Barrister Gohar slammed the coalition government led by the PML-N for “secretly working on legislation” instead of holding parliamentary party meetings before every session of parliament.

"This is not the way to do legislation secretly around the world," said the PTI chairman while talking to journalists in Islamabad today, adding that his party's lawmakers would review all aspects of the government's legislation in the parliamentary party meeting.

Gohar also said that his party "would oppose any kind of extension". His statement pointed towards the rumoured legislation of the incumbent government to grant an extension to Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa despite denial from some ministers.

The speculations gained attraction after it emerged that the federal government is reportedly planning to summon a joint session on August 28 to introduce key legislation, including changes in the laws related to the top jurist's appointments based on the principle of seniority.

Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Attaullah Tarar clarified two days ago that the federal government was not considering any option to extend judges' tenure "for now", rebutting speculations that the federal government was planning to introduce judiciary-centric legislation in parliament.

When questioned about the constitutional amendments in the pipeline on Geo News programme 'Naya Pakistan', Tarar had categorically rejected the rumoured plans of the federal government to extend the chief justice's tenure.

He further clarified that no constitutional amendment could be introduced during a joint session of the parliament.

The federal minister had said that the speculations were fictitious as President Asif Ali Zardari summoned a routine session of parliament. He, however, had confirmed that there was a chance for a joint session next week in which the legislators would take up some pending bills.

Tarar, the ruling PML-N leader, had also said that a debate was held on the judges' extension a few months ago but it was not on the government's agenda right now.

It is worth mentioning that prior to the expected joint parliament session, President Zardari also summoned the session of the National Assembly on August 26 (today) and the Senate on August 27 (tomorrow) under Article 54(1) of the Constitution.