PTI to discuss ToRs with opposition, bars: Qureshi

MULTAN: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Core Committee has decided to discuss the Terms of Reference issue with the opposition parties, lawyers, different professional bodies and organisations, and develop a consensus among all stakeholders on constitutional validation of ToRs.

It was disclosed by PTI’s senior leader Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi at the Multan International Airport after attending the PTI Core Committee meeting on Friday. Shah Mahmood Qureshi said that PTI Chairman Imran Khan was writing letters to the office-bearers of the bar associations across the country and he would write letters to the Multan District Bar Association and Multan High Court Bar Association presidents on Saturday.

He rejected the government’s stance that the opposition ToRs were unconstitutional. He said that lawyers were well aware of the Constitution and for that reason the PTI Core Committee had decided to consult the bar associations across the country to seek tthe ToRs’ constitutional validity.

He said that lawyers had played a historic role in all movements, particularly agitation against Gen (retd) Pervaiz Musharraf. He said the lawyers’ movement and ‘Eliminate corruption, save country” movement had also been spread across the country.

He said that lawyers should play their role in making the country stronger. Criticising the VIP protocol in Multan at the arrival of President Mamnoon Hussain, he said that the president’s security was necessary but it should not be done at the cost of paralysing the whole city.

Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi said that the Judicial Commission on the Panama Leaks would be constituted in the light of consensus ToRs. He said that F-16 were needed for the region and it could play an effective role in the war on terror. The US should honour the MoUs signed between Pakistan and US instead of withdrawing from the agreement, he added.