Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif held former chief of army staff Qamar Javed Bajwa and former Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI) head Faiz Hamid responsible for a recent surge in terrorism in the country.
On February 17th, three militants from the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) stormed into Karachi police headquarters, leading to an hour-long operation. During the operation, three militants were killed while two policemen, one Rangers official, and a civilian embraced martyrdom.
Earlier, a blast in Peshawar mosque inside a police compound claimed the lives of more than 60 people. The TTP claimed responsibility for one of the deadliest blasts in the city. Last month a police station in Peshawar was also targeted, resulting in three deaths. Meanwhile, the day after the deadly Peshawar attack, Punjab police thwarted an attack on a police station in Mianwali.
During a session in the National Assembly, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) stalwart Khawaja Muhammad Asif said the judiciary and the military establishment were directly responsible for bringing the country to a “grinding halt” amid economic and constitutional crises.
The PML-N leader also called for setting up full Supreme Court benches to revisit all “recent controversial decisions”, starting from the verdict in the 2017 Panama Papers case.
He also demanded the formation of a full court bench of the apex court to hear the ongoing suo motu proceedings in connection with the delay in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab elections.
He also questioned the judiciary as to why some judges were subjected to criticism, while others were spared.
Asif maintained that when judges would “transgress” into the domain of parliamentarians, the latter were bound to raise questions.
While referring to Article 63 -A, which deals with the disqualification of members of parliament, Asif said that it was not the job of the judges to rewrite the Constitution and the constitutional crisis the country is facing today is the direct result of that, he added.
