Analysts say Imran shifted burden of Saad Rizvi’s release on courts

Political analysts and senior journalists said that Prime Minister had shifted the burden of releasing the banned outfit Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) Chief Saad Rizvi on the courts.

In the 24News HD TV channel program—DNA, analysts Saleem Bukhari, PJ Mir, Iftikhar Ahmad and Javed Iqbal discussed the current situation of the TLP long march and the government measures.

Saleem Bukhari said despite all efforts, the situation was out of the control of the PM, adding that the government was determined not to let them go beyond Jhelum.

He said the PM was not happy with the role of police for its failure to stop the TLP long march and also ignored the sacrifices of policemen in this regard. Despite the fact that the TLP protesters were determined to reach Islamabad at all costs, he added.

He said that the PM also held a meeting with religious scholars to avoid a confrontation and gave the right to release Saad Rizvi through the courts.

Saleem Bukhari said the PM had held a meeting with 25 scholars and formed a committee of 12 scholars to hold talks with the leadership of the banned TLP.

He said during the meeting, scholars demanded that Fawad Chaudhry and Maulana Tahir Ashrafi be expelled from the meeting.

PJ Mir predicted that the government would have to suffer the consequences in future if the state writ was compromised in any case.

He said that if we have to compromise on the state writ then Nawaz Sharif should also be allowed to do politics by getting rid of corruption cases.

Javed Iqbal said that if the Prime Minister wanted to escape by putting the burden on the courts, similar situations could arise again in a few weeks.

Iftikhar Ahmed praised the Prime Minister's blunt stance regarding the French Ambassador but said such a decision should not be taken with a few scholars by ignoring the parliament. He urged PM to take all political parties into confidence.

In the DNA, analysts also discussed the rejection of the nomination papers of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Jamshed Iqbal Cheema and his wife Musarat Jamshed Cheema.

Saleem Bukhari said he was surprised about the mistake from a seasoned politician. He raised the question that did they make the mistake of stepping out of the field to avoid the humiliation of losing in by-elections in NA-133?

On this Javed Iqbal said that Aleem Khan had complained to Imran Khan in the last general elections that Jamshed Cheema was not spending money on the elections so PTI was lost the election on which Imran Khan strongly rebuked him (Cheema). And now, Cheema has again given a gift of the seat in by-elections, he added`.

Iftikhar Ahmed said on it that Cheema was going to appeal against the decision of the Election Commission and was ready to compete with opponents in the field.

The panel also paid homage to the six-wicket haul of the Afghan cricket team Asif Ali.

Report: Nadeem Anjum