Zubair Ali Khan
ISLAMABAD: Former National Assembly Speaker and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Asad Qaiser has said that the army will have to alter and formulate a new policy to assuage public anger as Pakistan cannot afford tribulation and tragedy.
In an exclusive interview with WeNews, the former speaker said: “We hope that the army will change its policy to assuage this public anger. The country and the army are ours and we do not want the country to suffer from any tragedy.”
He said, “I request the people leading institutions to prioritize national interest over personal ego. Personal likes and dislikes must be put aside when you hold a post.”
Qaiser said that the situation in the country has become terrible and the nation’s hope has faded. When there is despair, a revolution occurs. “The establishment doesn’t look neutral at the moment, we hope they remain apolitical,” he said.
‘Justice Qazi Faez Isa should not have sat with convicted people’
Commenting on Justice Qazi Faez Isa’s speech in parliament to mark the golden jubilee of the Constitution, the former speaker said: “We have respect for all judges, regardless of the internal affairs of the court. We also respect Qazi Faez Isa, but it is unfortunate to see him sit with the convicted people against whom there were big corruption cases”
“It has now become a challenge for the chief justice and how he protects the Constitution. We have hope from the chief justice.”
‘Qasim Suri’s ruling was wrong’
In response to a question, Qaiser said: “The ruling we (Qasim Suri) gave in April 2022 was wrong but we accepted the decision of the Supreme Court.”
Share eyewitness account of April 9, Qaiser said “there was no pressure on him when the no-confidence motion was tabled. Imran Khan called me to the Prime Minister’s House at 11 pm for legal consultations. At that time, the PTI decided to implement the Supreme Court’s decision. Fawad Chaudhry also suggested that the speaker should also resign, and I agreed.”
“There was also an opinion that the no-confidence motion issue should be dragged further for two to three days. There was no pressure on me. Whatever I did was done according to my conscience, in consultation with the party leadership and according to the law. It was a leadership decision and without any pressure.”
He said that the legislation being made in the parliament is aimed at only clearing the way for Nawaz Sharif. The judiciary is being pitched against each other in the name of judicial reforms in parliament. At present, there is no representation of the people in the National Assembly, and who will accept the legislation? The golden jubilee is being celebrated but the Constitution is being violated on. They have nothing to do with the Constitution but with personal interests.”
Asad Qaiser said there were different opinions in the party on the resignation from the National Assembly. “Now, I will not divulge the information but when the party decides, it has to be accepted.”
He said, “We should not have accepted a weak government and should have gone to the election again. We made a lot of compromises due to which neither legislation nor our manifesto could be implemented. If we get such a government again, it should not be accepted. We did not pay full attention to judicial reforms during our tenure, it was our mistake.”
He said they knew that a firm had been hired in the US “through Hussain Haqqani” and even then, we were doing whatever we could, but everything had been planned in Pakistan and we were expelled from the government. Now, we have ideological workers and those who used to taunt us as a “mummy and daddy party,” are seeing our workers taking to the streets and getting arrested.”
He said that the government was misusing the law and “our leaders and workers are being arrested. Instead of following the law, the police become a party, and the workers are pressured and tortured. We will take into account the illegal violence being committed against the workers. We are considering registering cases against police officers who followed these illegal orders.”
