Islamabad: Former chief justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry has demanded an inquiry into the motives behind Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan’s slur campaign against him and other individuals during his marathon dharna.
“It should not happen that someone accuses others without any evidence, keep the nation hostage for almost four months and goes scot-free in the end,” Chaudhry said while addressing a news conference at his residence in Islamabad along with dozens of his supporters.
If this happens today, then tomorrow someone else will bring a few hundred people in the federal capital and stage a protest in front parliament, he added.
Referring to Article 7 of the Constitution, Chaudhry said the state should immediately hold a thorough inquiry into the factors that compelled Imran to level baseless allegations of electoral fraud against former judges and others since April 24, 2014.
Though Chaudhry did not criticise the PTI as a party he severely targeted its chief by saying that he has failed to prove his allegations of rigging before the inquiry commission.
He also claimed that Imran has levelled allegations against him ‘115 times’ since his retirement but despite producing thousands of documents and numerous videos, he did not give any evidence regarding his involvement before the commission.
Regarding Imran’s complaint for not taking up rigging issue during his tenure, Chaudhry said no proper petition was moved by the PTI.
PTI reaction
PTI task force chairman Ishaq Khan Khakwani while commenting over Chaudhry’s media talk said that firstly, the state should also probe who was the mastermind behind the movement of his restoration and who had administratively and financially supported the lawyers’ movement, adding that the ex-CJ is working on the PML-N agenda.
