As Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf leader Imran Khan prepares for another long march to protest against the coalition government, Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif sat down with Aaj News host Asma Shirazi for a conversation on her prime time show Faisla Aap Ka to discuss the ousted premier’s previous protests, u-turns and the much talked about ‘red line’ that has dominated political and public discourse of late.
First up, the defence minister referred to the resignations submitted by PTI lawmakers in 2014, which were later retracted after a long, drawn out legal and political saga.
This was in reference to another petition by the ten out of the eleven PTI lawmakers who were de-seated after current NA Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf accepted their resignations. They have now moved the Islamabad High Court against the de-seating, saying that their resignation was conditional on all 123 MNAs being de-seated.
The petition has also said that the speaker did not follow due process in accceptance of the resignation, a veritable volte face from their earlier stance when they said that Qasim Suri, in his capacity as deputy speaker, had already accepted the resignations. The IHC later declared Suri’s acceptance ruling on the resignation illegal.
“One thing that is clear. You can’t trust anything they (the PTI) say. Nothing is said with finality in their dictionary. They can back out of anything,” Khawaja Asif said claiming that the party was known for making u-turns.
He said that the latest petition heard in the IHC showed that even party workers weren’t aware of if Imran Khan would stick to what he says..
“One thing that is constant. He (Imran) wants to rule at any price,” said Asif.
“If he has to fall at the feet of the army chief… offer an extension,” he continued, referring to the issue of the appointment of the next army chief. General Qamar Javed Bajwa’s term expires on November 29, and the incumbent army chief has ruled out a second extension.
Asif said that the country had more pressing issues, the flood and the economy, on which there was need for unity in response. “But he has not spoken about the flood.”
The conversation then moved to the red line, a term thrown around by both government and opposition leaders. Imran Khan’s supporters have taken to calling the PTI chief ‘their red line’ in response to calls for his arrest.
“For us, the red line is the constitution,” asserted the Khawaja Asif. “This man (Imran) violates the Constitution every day, breaks the law every day. He circumvented the law when he was prime minister. The incident on the night of the no-confidence vote was the most serious violation in our 75-year history.”
When asked if the government would take action against Imran for ‘violations’, Khawaja Asif’s reply was unequivocal. “One hundred percent.”
When asked if the issue would be taken up in the parliament, he said: “As parliamentarians and politicians, we should use that forum to the maximum. It is the house of elected representatives of the people of Pakistan. I am pained to say that we have not had a history of really using parliament as we should have.”
When asked who was to blame for that, Asif said that it was the fault of politicians.
The defence minister parried questions about secret meetings, backroom talks and the much-talked about NRO, or amnesty offer, being in the offing.
“I have not met anyone [about it]. It was reported in certain columns. I denied it in the press conference yesterday as well…”
