Imran Khan warns of protests ‘if SC orders not implemented’

LAHORE: Former prime minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan has warned of countrywide protests if the government fails to implement Supreme Court’s (SC) orders of holding Punjab elections on May 14, ARY News reported on Saturday.

Addressing the party workers at his residence in Lahore’s Zaman Park, the former premier lambasted the government for rejecting SC orders of holding Punjab elections on May 14.

Imran Khan stressed the need for supremacy of rule of law in the country, saying that a nation cannot prosper with ‘law of the jungle’.

He further said that a nation gets destroyed where ‘powerful criminals’ are not punished, adding that he failed to ‘catch the thieves’ as ‘real power lied with Qamar Javed Bajwa’.

The former premier further said that the relations between him and Bajwa soured because the latter “did not want accountability in the country”.

“We will have to fix the justice system, if we want to get Pakistan out of this quagmire,” he said, asking the workers and supporters ‘to be ready for his call’.

It is pertinent to mention here the Supreme Court (SC) declared the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) March 22 order on Punjab elections null and void.

A three-member bench — comprising Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial, Justice Ijazul Ahsan and Justice Munib Akhtar — announced the reserved verdict on the PTI’s petition challenging the Election Commission of Pakistan’s order postponing the elections in Punjab and KP.

The Supreme Court declared the ECP’s order postponing the provincial assembly elections until October 8 as “unconstitutional” and ordered the government to release Rs21 billion funds for elections in Punjab by April 10.

The top court directed to conduct Punjab polls on May 14. The SC further directed the caretaker government in Punjab to assist the commission. “The court will issue an appropriate order in case of non-provision of funds,” the verdict read.