Imran Khan slams govt's 'complete mockery' of Constitution

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan said that the Supreme Court's decision on whether to hear his party's plea with a five-member bench or a full court is of no importance. 

The former premier said that what is most crucial to his party is whether elections will take place in compliance with the Constitution or not.

The PTI chief's remarks come on Thursday after the dissolution of the apex court's five-member bench as Justice Amin-Ud-Din Khan recused himself from the bench hearing the election delay case under Article 184(3).

The hearing of the PTI's plea against the Election Commission of Pakistan's (ECP) decision to delay the elections in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa did not take place on Thursday. The top court was set to resume the hearing at 11:30am. However, the hearing was adjourned following Justice Amin-Ud-Din's recusal.

Reacting to the development, Imran Khan said on social media: "Whether it's a five-member SC bench or a full bench, it makes no difference to us because all we want to know is if elections will be held within the 90 days' constitutional provision."

Expressing shock over the recent developments, he said, "before we dissolved our two provincial assemblies, I consulted our top constitutional lawyers, all of whom were absolutely clear that the 90-day constitutional provision on holding of elections was inviolable."

The PTI chief, who was ousted from the premiership through a vote of no-confidence, has been demanding early elections ever since his ouster in April last year. 

Later, Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provincial assemblies were dissolved in January this year at his behest as part of the PTI's strategy to win early elections. 

However, the latest turn of events saw the dissolution of the bench hearing the party's plea for elections in the two provinces.

The PTI chief termed the attempts by the ruling alliance to postpone the polls a mockery of the Constitution.

He said, "Now the imported government of crooks, their handlers and a compromised Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) are making a complete mockery of the Constitution."

"By cherry-picking which Articles of the Constitution they will abide by, they are threatening the very foundation of Pakistan, which is the Constitution and Rule of Law," he noted.

Khan said they are so afraid of holding elections and desperate to save their leaders to the extent that they are willing to dismantle the Constitution and disregard any principles of rule of law.

"So petrified are they of elections and so desperate to whitewash their convicted leaders that they are prepared to destroy the Constitution and any semblance of Rule of Law," he added.

'Certified anti-constitutionalist'

Meanwhile, in a tit-for-tat reply to Imran Khan’s tweet on Thursday, PML-N Chief Organizer Maryam Nawaz declared him a certified anti-constitutionalist in the history of Pakistan.

She said taking the name of a sacred object like the Constitution from the mouth of the first certified anti-constitutionalist was a hideous joke.

Maryam taunted Imran Khan by saying that his plot hatched with the help of new facilitators had been exposed.

She said the country, state and its institutions could not follow “the orders of a terrorist and Fitna like you, so now you should keep silent”.