ISLAMABAD: The Pakistani Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Saturday urged global forums to “urgently take note” of the dire situation in Pakistan and “play your role in protecting the people from the monster of political genocide, the destruction of democracy and chaos” .
Former National Assembly speaker Asad Qaiser wrote a letter to the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and other global forums to inform them of “political victimization, assassination attempts and attacks against PTI – the largest political party in Pakistan”.
Qaiser shared a photo of the letter on his Twitter account and said he felt it his responsibility to inform the various forums of the world about the “illegal policies and grave violations” of human rights by this “fascist government”.
“If [a] former speaker, [of] the National Assembly of Pakistan, I am compelled to contact you and inform you about the alarmingly violent situation in Pakistan, grave and serious human rights violations including kidnapping, attempted assassinations, custodial sentences, enforced disappearances, inhumane treatment and murder or eminent journalists and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) political workers, leaders, former and current MPs including [the] former Prime Minister of Pakistan, current Chairman Tehreek-Insaf, Mr. Imran Ahmed Niazi by the current PDM government in Pakistan, in coordination with law enforcement agencies,” he wrote.
Qaiser informed the global forums that the PTI is the most popular political party in Pakistan and told the IPU that after heavy political haggling in “peculiar” political circumstances, the party resigned from parliament to get a new mandate from the population of Pakistan. .
He claimed that the PTI, despite being in a “suppressed opposition”, won 30 out of 37 by-elections by a margin of more than 50% against twelve political parties – which are part of the coalition government.
“The present government in collaboration with two transitional governments in the provinces of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has committed such heinous crimes to suppress political dissent from the PTI and has employed such outrageous methods that the basic principles of decency, humanity and all international covenants on human rights hanging on a chain,” the former speaker wrote.
He went on to say that the “fake charge” was made against Khan to try to push his way out of politics. This was followed by a “coordinated assassination attempt” on Khan’s life in which he suffered multiple gunshot wounds and fractures along with 11 others wounded and a passerby killed.
“To date, he has not been allowed to exercise his constitutional mandate to employ the suspects involved and bring a case against the suspects in the attempted assassination of a former prime minister,” he said.
On November 3, Khan was shot in the leg – what he called an assassination attempt. Since then, his supporters have surrounded his residence in Lahore with tents in recent months to defend and protect their leader.
Qaiser mentioned a list of other things, including:
- To date, 127 “fake and baseless” cases have been filed against the PTI chief
- Khan’s residence and family have been attacked more than once and arrested for no reason
- The supporters of the PTI chief are harassed and beaten on a daily basis under one pretext or another
- Famous investigative journalist Arshad Sharif was murdered during an investigation into ‘official corruption’ by those in power
The PTI leader further added that Pakistan’s superior judiciary is under heavy attack by the PDM government, which has released a series of “fake audio/videos” in an attempt to blackmail them.
“As if this were not enough, steps are now being taken to ban PTI as a political party, followed by an unconstitutional refusal by the state institutions to hold elections for two assemblies, contrary to clear Supreme Court orders.
“Current Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has gone so far as to condemn party workers militants for resisting violence and his niece, Maryam Nawaz, a party leader, has made genocidal statements about the ethnicity of mainstream political workers.”