PESHAWAR: Special Assistant to the Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for Information and Public Relations, Shafi Jan, has strongly reacted to the press conference of the Speaker Punjab Assembly, stating that a person who has himself referred to the Punjab Assembly as a “maasi ka ghar” is in no position to lecture others on the constitution, democracy and respect for guests.
He said that Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Sohail Afridi’s visit to Lahore was aimed at expressing solidarity with party workers and their families who are victims of oppression and fascism under what he termed a “fake” Punjab government. However, he added, they did not expect that the visit of an elected chief minister would plunge the entire Punjab government into fear and panic.
Shafi Jan said that terming the visit of an elected chief minister as “stunts” is clear evidence of the Speaker Punjab Assembly’s political insecurity and nervousness. He added that a person holding a constitutional office should maintain neutrality and constitutional dignity instead of acting as a personal loyalist of the Sharif family.
He said that false and fabricated cases have been registered against PTI Chairman Imran Khan, the party leadership and workers, but questioned why the Speaker Punjab Assembly avoids looking into the Sharif family’s attacks on state institutions and serious corruption cases before accusing PTI. He added that the constant rhetoric over the events of May 9 is a failed attempt to conceal the PML-N’s politics of revenge.
The Special Assistant said that respect for the Constitution is not demonstrated through speeches but through practical actions, whereas the PML-N government has effectively dismantled the rule of the Constitution and law. He questioned which provision of the Constitution allows pushing, stopping and humiliating an elected chief minister and assembly members inside the Punjab Assembly, stressing that an assembly does not belong to a single party but to all political forces.
Criticising Speaker Malik Ahmad Khan, Shafi Jan said that he has turned the Punjab Assembly into a sub-office of the PML-N, while the Punjab government is hiding its political fear under the pretext of security. He said that democracy is weakened, not strengthened, through the humiliation of elected representatives, and that the incident in the Punjab Assembly is a clear reflection of the PML-N’s political intolerance.
He further said that the continuous racially prejudiced statements by Uzma Bukhari are proof that the so-called Punjab government is in a state of panic due to political revenge. Shafi Jan invited the Speaker Punjab Assembly to visit the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly, saying that Malik Ahmad Khan has much to learn from the Speaker KP Assembly regarding democratic traditions and parliamentary decorum.
He warned the PML-N to remember that the Lahore visit was only the beginning of the street movement.
