Governor justifies inviting army intervention in Punjab

Punjab Governor Omar Sarfraz Cheema has said the ‘foreign conspiracy facilitators’ are levelling allegations against the establishment and the army to achieve their goals.

In a thread of tweets on Saturday, the governor said the nation venerated and trusted its national institutions as well as the Pakistan Army, adding those who facilitated (the alleged foreign conspiracy against the PTI government) wanted to create a rift between the nation and the armed forces.

The governor’s latest thread of tweets comes a couple of days after he wrote a letter to the army chief seeking his intervention to lead Punjab out of the legal and constitutional crises plaguing it for months – a move that was panned by political and social circles. Mr Cheema had also announced to send a reference against Lahore High Court’s Justice Jawad Hassan to the Supreme Judicial Council for an “illegal decision” of asking the National Assembly speaker to administer the oath to the then chief ministerelect Hamza Shehbaz.

In another tweet on Saturday, Mr Cheema said several people had started offering their opinions on the ongoing constitutional, legal and political crises in Punjab. “Since Punjab is suffering from a constitutional crisis, it is not a crime to ask other constitutional office-holders to intervene and play their legal and constitutional role to avert the crisis,” he asserted.

The governor also expressed solidarity with the judiciary in a tweet, saying everyone should respect the judiciary and judges, whether the decisions are in favour of or against someone.

“The law will take its course if anyone violates the Constitution and defames a constitutional institution,” he wrote. “Being a constitutional office-holder, it is my responsibility to protect the law and Constitution.”