Opposition alliance to launch movement for ‘restoration’ of Constitution

ISLAMABAD: The leadership of Tehreek Tahaffuz Ayeen-e-Pakistan, a conglomeration of opposition parties, Saturday decided to launch a nationwide campaign for, what they called, the restoration of Constitution and knock at the doors of courts for rallies in Karachi and Faisalabad.

The opposition’s alliance rejected the DG ISPR’s news conference and said those who break the Constitution will have to apologise to the nation. It also demanded an inquiry into the wheat scandal and punishment to those behind it.

A huddle of the alliance of opposition parties was held under the chairmanship of Mehmood Khan Achakzai, who heads the Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami Party. Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Omar Ayub Khan, PTI’s Asad Qaiser, Sunni Ittehad Council chief Sahibzada Hamid Raza, BNP Mengal’s acting president Sajid Khan Tareen and senior leader Sanaullah Baloch and MWM’s Asad Abbas Naqvi and Syed Nasir Shirazi attended the meeting. According to the Tehreek’s spokesperson, the meeting reviewed the political situation in the country in detail and approved important decisions related to them. It was emphasized that the movement for the restoration of Constitution of Pakistan would continue till the supremacy of the Constitution and rule of law in the country was ensured.

Quoting the meeting, the spokesperson said that the country’s most popular party had been made to sit in the opposition, which was an insult to the people’s mandate. “There is no such thing as democracy in the country. The Constitution has been suspended in the country, and that is why this movement has been started and the opposition alliance has decided to launch a nationwide campaign to restore the Constitution,” he noted.

The nationwide campaign, he pointed out, would address Bar councils across the country while rallies would be held and a public case would be placed before the media. The public would be mobilised through seminars.

The spokesperson said that the future course of action to take the movement forward and achieve real freedom was also considered. While condemning the obstructions created by the administration and provincial governments for the rallies in Faisalabad and Karachi, it was decided that courts would be approached for permission for the meetings. “If there is democracy in this country, then why are we being prevented from going to the people? Holding public gatherings is our constitutional, legal and democratic right. Meetings will be held in any case. At present, democracy has ended in the country and the Constitution is being played with. Our movement will continue till the restoration of Constitution,” he noted.

He said that the opposition alliance’s leadership rejected the ISPR press conference, held on May 7, as unconstitutional, illegal and excessive. “It is incomprehensible for them to demand an apology. Those who break the Constitution in the country will have to apologise to the nation,” he argued. The meeting condemned the killing of seven innocent and unarmed people in a terrorist incident in Gwadar and expressed condolences to their families and said that “we stand with them in this hour of grief”. The meeting also condemned the “brutal torture and arrests” of lawyers of the Lahore High Court Bar. The treatment meted out to farmers in Punjab was also denounced. The spokesperson said, “Our entire movement stands with the farmers in support of their demands. Atrocities against farmers will not be tolerated under any circumstances. The mafia has tortured farmers of the whole country to earn money, there should be a full inquiry against the people who imported wheat.”