Fresh elections only solution to save country: PTI

ISLAMABAD: Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Omar Ayub Tuesday said the only solution to save the country was to hold fresh elections.

He told a news conference here along with the spouse of PTI’s Ijaz Chaudhry, PTI Secretary General Salman Akram Raja and senior party leader Asad Qaiser that rulers were not capable of running the country.

Omar Ayub urged the Chief Justice of Pakistan for an inquiry into alleged mistreatment of their party’s senior member’s wife and family members and said interior minister, prime minister and IG be questioned about this.

Referring to the alleged treatment meted out to Ijaz’s wife, he said there was a need to take action on treatment of sisters and sons in our country. “Look at the condition of founder of PTI, even water is being held back and they are not allowing him to meet (visitors),” he claimed.

He said they had raised this matter of maltreatment to (Ijaz wife) on the floor of the National Assembly and at that time ‘your fake prime minister was sitting there’. He urged the chief justice to take notice of the alleged mistreatment being done to ‘our sister’.

Salman Akram Raja said that all this was done for a constitutional amendment. “For this amendment, the honor of sisters and daughters was violated. We ask the entire nation to wake up and raise their voice for their rights”.

To a question regarding the new chief justice, he said they had good hopes but contended that the amendment through which he was installed was not correct and it was an attack on the Constitution. “But now, after he has assumed the charge, there is a huge responsibility on him and he should exercise all the powers he enjoys,” he maintained. He alleged the top court for the last 13 months had ignored PTI despite repeated requests and petitions.

The PTI secretary general said that it would be good, if they get justice from the judiciary, otherwise, they would seek the same from people. The wife of Ijaz Chaudhry, who had her children with her, said their house was raided on October 11 by people with covered faces. They immediately started beating the servants and asked them again and again about her. “They made videos of employees of our house. They also tried to break the door of my room. They also dragged my 11-month-old daughter by her legs. I couldn’t get a shawl on my head and I had shoes on. I was locked in a room,” she said.

She also talked about verbal insults unleashed on her and could not explain their attitude towards her. “We have nothing to do with politics, only my husband does politics. We are citizens of Pakistan, don’t oppress us like this in the name of politics,” she appealed.

“They have been raiding our house since October 11. Sometimes they say that they have the orders of CDA to demolish our house, which has been damaged a lot from the heavy machinery. We are being harassed continuously,” she complained.

Asad Qaiser said, “The state is like a mother, but which state are they going to build? Bilawal wants to continue his grandfather’s politics in this way, who had given the gift of 1973 Constitution. He is making victory (sign) on such a victory and in fact wants to sabotage the Constitution.”

“We are not afraid of such hatred, and we will respond to this cruelty in a peaceful way. They are bringing now the 27th amendment, which we will not allow to be approved,” he said. He ridiculed PMLN supremo Nawaz Sharif’s statement of not needing any support and having got passed the amendment on their own, reminding him that their party had won only 17 seats in the elections.