Imran Khan's crimes, not constitutional changes, enough to keep him jailed: Asif

Responding to the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder’s remarks that the state's frantic push to amend the constitution was only to keep him imprisoned, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif claimed on Tuesday that Imran Khan's myriad crimes alone were enough to keep him behind bars.

“Given PTI founder's long list of crimes, constitutional amendments won't be necessary,” asserted Asif while talking to Geo News.

"The incarcerated former premier wants to attach himself not just to constitutional amendments but to everything [that's happening] in Pakistan as he considers himself the centre of everything."

A day earlier, Khan claimed that the ruling coalition's constitutional amendments package was designed to prolong his incarceration and described the proposed changes as disastrous for the country and the judiciary.

“The PTI founder should reflect on what chaos he created in the last four years. There was an attempted rebellion [against the state] on May 9 [last year], the defence czar added.

"Some individuals from armed forces, who were in cahoots with ex-ISI chief Lt Gen (retd) Faiz Hameed. were also involved in the May 9 mayhem."

“Since the PTI founder has been in custody, he has repeatedly — like three to four thousand times— said that he will talk to the establishment,” the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader said.

He also rejected the opposition parties’ allegations of keeping the amendments under wraps, saying that the draft legislation was “a public document whose contents are not a secret”.

Despite Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif-led coalition government's failure to get the required number to pass the amendments which led to the indefinite postponement of its tabling yesterday, Asif was optimistic about the passage of new legislation through the parliament, come what may.

Defending the coalition government’s move to make judiciary-centric constitutional amendments, Asif stated that the changes aimed at maintaining a balance of power among institutions, not just at ensuring accountability.

Claiming that the PTI was willing to support the constitutional package, he revealed that "the former ruling party has requested the government to postpone the amendment until December."

To another question, Asif said that the superior judiciary was dealing with the appointment of judges as it had only five serving judges each from every chamber.

He lamented that politicians always faced accountability and cases for their failures but their salaries were only Rs200,000. "On the other hand, judges are receiving big salaries clubbed with perks but [nearly] 2.7 million cases are still pending in different courts," said Asif.

The politico was apparently responding to Khan’s queries over the proposed establishment of a constitutional court for the latter alleged yesterday that "current rulers are afraid of the Supreme Court, therefore, they want to constitute a [separate] constitutional court".

PTI's Barrister Gohar rejects Asif’s claims

In response to Asif’s statement, PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan told Geo News that the defence minister was not part of the parliamentary special committee.

"Neither have we been involved in any discussions with Asif, nor has PTI assured support for the government's constitutional amendments until December," he said.

He categorically rejected Asif’s claims, asserting that any statement about PTI’s approval would be false, as the "draft, suggestion, or package has not yet been disclosed."

The politico added that while his party’s lawmakers had requested the draft of the proposed changes from the government, PTI has never promised to support the new legislation.

Treasury and opposition benches have engaged in a tug-of-war in both houses of the parliament over the incumbent government’s constitutional amendment legislation that allegedly aims to extend the tenure of Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa — who is set to retire in October this year — as well as the retirement age of the judges.

However, the government needs to secure a two-thirds majority in parliament to successfully pass any constitutional amendment.

The ruling parties continued their strenuous efforts to get Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) Chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman's assent to the proposed amendments and held multiple meetings to convince him.

On the other hand, opposition parties — PTI and JUI-F — have criticised the government for being secretive about the content of the constitutional amendments, arguing that the original draft should be presented in Parliament for debate before approval.

In the National Assembly, the government is short of 13 votes to pass the proposed constitutional amendment, while in the Senate, it is in need of nine.