Imran’s ouster from political arena essential: Rana Sana

Claims two provincial assemblies were not dissolved constitutionally.

ISLAMABAD    -    Holding Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan solely responsible for all the crises being faced by the country, Interior Minis­ter Rana Sanaullah said Friday it was imperative to oust the defiant leader from the political arena.

Talking to journalists outside the Supreme Court (SC) on Friday, the security czar said: “A fitna [Im­ran Khan] has first created a polit­ical and administrative crisis and now judicial issues and that is why it becomes all the more important to oust him from politics.”

There was a need to probe how the PTI chief was “launched” in politics and the judiciary should also play its role in that regard, he added.

He said that the top court’s Jus­tice Jamal Khan Mandokhail had re­cused himself from the bench hear­ing the case pertaining to elections in the provinces of Punjab and Khy­ber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) writing a dis­senting note.

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It was an irony that the nine-member bench had been re­duced to just three members now, Sanaullah added. The PTI lead­er wanted chaos in the country, the federal minister said, adding that the two provincial assemblies were not dissolved constitutional­ly as the respective chief ministers were not willing to do so.

Berating the deposed prime minis­ter — who was removed from power via a no-confidence vote in April last year — the PML-N senior leader said that he was rather an “arrogant and stubborn” person who made them dissolve the assemblies for his “ne­farious agenda”.

Sanaullah further said the deci­sion of a two-member bench head­ed by Justice Qazi Faez Isa regarding the suo motu powers “cannot be dis­regarded by the circular of the Reg­istrar’s Office”. There was no such precedent as the registrar’s circular prevailed in the face of a bench’s de­cision, he added.

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The interior minister suggest­ed that a full court bench should be formed to decide the provincial as­semblies’ election case. The matter must be resolved “in a win-win sit­uation for all”.