Coalition govt demands full court hear petition against Dost Mazari's ruling: joint statement

• Coalition parties urge the chief justice to constitute a full bench to hear the case in joint statement.
• "Imran Khan's attitude and thought are like a 'termite' eating away at Pakistan," says statement.
• "We are not far from Sri Lanka's moment when our public pours out into the streets," tweets Imran Khan.

ISLAMABAD: The coalition government on Saturday demanded that a full court hear the petition filed against the ruling issued by Deputy Speaker Punjab Assembly Dost Muhammad Mazari in the election of the province's chief minister.

A joint statement has been issued in this regard, urging the chief justice to constitute a full bench to hear the case.

Mazari rejected 10 PML-Q votes after party chief Chaudhry Shujaat directed his lawmakers to vote in favour of Hamza Shahbaz, but they decided to support Pervez Elahi.

As a result, Elahi lost the crucial election, and he approached the Supreme Court of Pakistan (SC) — whose three-member bench is hearing the case, led by Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial.

The statement

In the statement, the parties said it will be fair that the full court bench, comprising all the respected judges of the Supreme Court, review the  the Supreme Court bar application, the present application, and other related applications, and schedule them for hearing together and issue a single ruling because these are matters of national, political and constitutional importance.

The country is paying a heavy price of the resulting political instability is paying a heavy price, with the economy at risk of bankruptcy and the people suffering from inflation, unemployment and poverty, the statement said.

Turning their guns to PTI Chairman Imran Khan, the coalition rulers said that the former prime minister was moving the country's politics towards chaos.

"Imran Khan is repeatedly creating chaos in politics with the aim of avoiding accountability, hiding his corruption and gaining power through illegitimate means," they said in the statement.

The constitution draws clear lines of authority between the Legislature, the Judiciary, and the Executive, but an "arrogant violator of the Constitution" — Khan — wants to erase those lines, the statement said.

The coalition government said that the PTI chairman wants to move Pakistan's democracy and right to governance towards "default", "just as he did with the economy".

"Imran Khan's attitude and thought are like a 'termite' eating away at  Pakistan [...] but the ruling coalition reiterates its commitment that there will be no compromise on the constitution, democracy and people's right to rule," they said.

They added that the coalition parties will move forward on every forum together and they will "fight against the darkness of fascism".

'Not far from Sri Lanka moment'

Moments after, PTI Chairman Imran Khan, in a series of tweets, said that Pakistan was "not far" from defaulting and the state would soon depict a likeness to Sri Lanka — which has defaulted on its external debt.

Khan said in just over three months — from the time he was ousted from power — the "Zardari-Sharifs mafia" has "brought the country to its knees", politically and economically.

Khan alleged they had done so "to simply save their illegally accumulated wealth amassed over 30 years of plundering Pakistan".

"My question is: how long will state institutions continue to allow this?" he said.

The PTI chairman wrote that he could say with certainty — that after his interaction with the nation and their response to his call for "Haqeeqi Azadi" — the people have had enough.

"Will not allow these mafias to continue their loot and plunder. We are not far from Sri Lanka's moment when our public pours out into the streets," he said.