PDM urges chief justice to quit over releasing PTI chief
Convoys filled with government supporters flood the main road to Islamabad on their way to the supreme Court despite a ban on r allies and public gatherings imposed by the govt in the wake of the turmoil
Thousands of government supporters converged on the country’s Supreme Court on Monday, in a rare challenge to the nation’s judiciary.
The demonstrators demanded the resignation of the chief justice over ordering the release of former prime minister Imran Khan.
The Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), a grouping of 13 political parties affiliated with the ruling Pakistan Muslim League, called for the protests. The alliance was behind the joint action to oust Imran in a no-confidence vote in parliament April 2022.
Imran’s dramatic detention from a courtroom in Islamabad last week sparked outrage among legions of his supporters, who set buildings and vehicles ablaze across major cities and atacked military facilities.
At least 10 people died in pitched batles with police.
Dozens were injured and thousands of Imran’s supporters from his Pakistan Tehreek-e-insaf (PTI) party were arrested.
The Supreme Court, headed by Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial, intervened and ordered him to be freed. Bandial criticised the way Imran was arrested and said that his detention was unlawful. But the government and its allies have accused the top judge of bias.
Convoys filled with government supporters flooded the main road to Islamabad on their way to the Supreme Court despite a ban on rallies and public gatherings imposed by the government in the wake of the turmoil.
“Our peaceful protest is against Chief Justice (Umar Ata Bandial) for facilitating the release of Imran,” said Fazalur Rehman, the head of the PDM.
The political party Jamiat-e-ulema-islam is leading the protest call. Also as part of the alliance, the Pakistan Peoples Party led by Bilawal Bhuto Zardari — the son of assassinated prime minister Benazir Bhuto — is joining the protest.
Maryam Nawaz Sharif, the chief organiser of the ruling party and daughter of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, was present at the sit-in as well.
“This building (Supreme Court) before us, it was supposed to be a means of delivering justice to the oppressed, bringing the powerful under the law and strengthening democracy.
“This building should have been a means of strengthening parliament.
“It was the responsibility of this building to maintain the sanctity of the elected prime ministers […] to strengthen the democracy.
“But the facilitators […] siting in this building are murdering justice,” Maryam was quoted as saying by Dawn.
Some judges were unable to directly access the Supreme Court because of the sit-in and had to use an atached government building to enter and leave the premises.
In a televised statement on Monday, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif accused the Supreme Court of siding with Imran.
He suggested the court “examine the conduct of the chief justice” and take legal action against him.
Imran claimed in a tweet on Monday that the sit-in is being orchestrated to remove the chief justice.
The protest is a sign of escalating tensions between the judiciary and the government of Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif, who replaced Imran ater his ouster.
Direct confrontations between the government and supreme court judges are rare in Pakistan.
In 1997, then-prime minister Nawaz Sharif demanded the removal of Chief Justice Sajjad Ali Shah. A decade later, former president Pervez Musharraf placed Chief Justice Itikhar Mohammad Chaudhry under house arrest ater he refused to resign for accusing the then-leader of corruption.
Judges have grown in power since then. The Supreme Court has ousted two prime ministers from office: Nawaz Sharif and Yousaf Raza Gillani.
Imran was dramatically arrested from a courtroom in Islamabad and dragged out by agents of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) last Tuesday on charges of accepting millions of dollars worth of property in exchange for providing benefits to real estate tycoon Malik Riaz.