Maryam asks CEC not to accept unconstitutional orders

PML-N Vice-President Maryam Nawaz on Thursday said holding the Senate elections earlier would not save the PTI government and asked the chief election commissioner (CEC) to refuse the unconstitutional orders, saying it was the ECP’s job to announce the schedule and hold the polls, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.

Addressing a press conference in Lahore, Maryam warned that playing with the institutions would trigger serious consequences for the ruling party. Why the hurry to hold the Senate polls earlier if the PDM had no effects, she asked.

She made it clear that voting for Senate elections through show of hands was possible only after a constitutional amendment and vowed that no one would be allowed to bulldoze the constitution through any ordinance or any other move.

It seemed, the PML-N vice-president said, Imran Khan had assumed the job of disfiguring the Constitution. Any decision about how to use legal options would be taken at the PDM platform, she told reporters.

Questioning how the government could announce the date for Senate elections, Maryam said Imran Khan was heading all the institutions only to destroy them. From NAB and FIA to intelligence agencies, Imran was heading each of the institutions and had assumed the role of the ECP head too.

Maryam noted that she wasn’t against the show of hands but transparency wasn’t the motive behind the government plan. Why show of hands had suddenly become a top priority when Imran had used institutions to force the opposition members for voting in their favour the no-confidence motion and the Senate chairman election, she asked.

The PML-N leader also blasted the plan to move the Supreme Court for the Senate elections and said it would only make judiciary controversial. The Supreme Court can only interpret the Constitution, not change or amend that, she noted.             

Asking the ECP to perform the duties according to the Constitution and not give an impression that it is working for a political party, she said the chief election commissioner must refuse to accept unconstitutional directives. The ECP should make progress in the foreign funding case as the entire nation was watching that, Maryam observed.

When asked about the arrest of Ali Wazir, the PML-N leader condemned the move and maintained that not allowing such movements to flourish would not produce good results. “Every one of us is a Pakistani,” she noted.