After the Supreme Court gave its verdict on the extension of Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa on Thursday, Prime Minister Imran Khan said it must be a great disappointment for those who expected the country to be destabilised by clash of institutions.
“Today must be a great disappointment to those who expected the country to be destabilized by a clash of institutions. That this did not happen must be of special disappointment to our external enemies & mafias within – Mafias who have stashed their loot abroad and seek to protect this loot by destabilizing the country,” the prime minister said in a tweet posted on his social media account.
He recalled that 23 years ago, Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) was the first party to advocate an independent judiciary and rule of law. “In 2007, PTI was in the forefront of the Movement for Independence of the Judiciary & I was jailed for it,” he mentioned.
The prime minister further said that he has the greatest respect for Chief Justice Asif Saeed Khosa, and hailed him as one of the greatest jurists ever produced by the country.
Separately, addressing the inaugural session of two-day ‘Engage Africa Conference’ at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Prime Minister Imran Khan said with democracy getting mature, the national institutions will never clash with one another as they have started working within their purview. As a democratic culture and mindset prevails in the country and the state institutions respect one another to the disappointment of many, including the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of India and mafias in Pakistan, which wanted to destabilize the latter, he said attempts were made to create instability in the country through a sit-in in the recent past and by unduly playing up a case in the Supreme Court particularly by the Indian media. “New Delhi wanted to destabilise Pakistan as the way the incumbent government in Islamabad had highlighted the Kashmir issue was unprecedented,” he said. “Unfortunately, some people in Pakistan in their bid to destabilise the country put all the emphasis on the Kashmir issue made by the government on the back burner,” he said. “Who was pleased the most – the racist BJP government of India, which has been celebrating a lot. First, they pinned hopes at the sit-in and got crushed there. Now they thought of any clash among the institutions,” he remarked.
The prime minister said during its 23-year struggle, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf has always resolved for the independence of judiciary and fully took part in the movement for its restoration in 2007 when he was also jailed. The government is committed to protect the independence of judiciary, he added.
“I think the harmony among the institutions today is unprecedented. This is haunting the BJP government and Pakistani mafias, which have their money stashed abroad and desire instability in Pakistan to protect their money,” he said. “All of them have faced defeat. God willing, they will face defeat in future too. Because, Pakistan is now progressing speedily having gone through a difficult time and God willing, no force will impede it from heading forward,” he added.
