“Nawaz Sharif’s plan to travel to Lahore in a cavalcade on GT Road is a deliberate attempt to continue undermining the Supreme Court of Pakistan by calling into question its decision on the Panama case,” said Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan in a statement shared on Twitter on Sunday.
The earlier plan of Nawaz returning to Lahore on Sunday through the motorway was put off until Wednesday. Punjab Information Minister Mujtaba Shujaur Rehman had said that the decision to change the programme had been taken on “public pressure”, adding that the journey to Lahore [on GT Road] would be completed at least in two days.
Without going into specific details, Khan also alleged that Sharif, through the GT Road journey, was attempting to pressurise the National Accountability Bureau which is looking into cases against the Sharif family.
Khan, whose party is known to organise frequent rallies and dharnas, said, “It is ironic that when PTI was peacefully protesting to seek justice for rigging and later against the corruption unveiled in the Panama Papers, the Sharif government was accusing it of derailing the system and now, Sharif and his cohorts are protesting to actually bring down the democratic system by refusing to accept the SC verdict.”
The PTI chief also accused the recently ousted Nawaz Sharif of using state resources even though he doesn’t hold any office. “He is continuing to use state resources – from funds to government machinery including Punjab police and local governments – to destroy the judiciary and thereby the democratic system which is moving towards accountability of the powerful for the first time.”
Source: Dawn
