Pakistan: Opposition parties decide to launch campaign for "restoration" of Constitution

Islamabad [Pakistan], May 12 : The Tehreek Tahafuz Aayeen-i-Pakistan, a multi-party coalition of opposition parties launched earlier this year, has decided to start a campaign across the nation for the "restoration" of the Constitution, with power shows expected in Karachi and Faisalabad, Pakistan-based Dawn reported.
In April, the six-party alliance decided to begin a nationwide movement for the rule of law and selected Mahmood Khan Achakzai as its president. The opposition's decision to launch the campaign was aimed at protecting the Constitution.
The decision was taken during a meeting chaired by Achakzai to add new vigour to the movement and was prompted by the ISPR chief's press conference, in which the military spokesperson committed no mercy for the May, according to Dawn report.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leaders Omar Ayub and Asad Qaiser, and Sunni Ittehad Council chief Hamid Raza attended the meeting among others. The participants said that the ISPR director general's recent press conference was "unconstitutional" and responded that those who had violated the Constitution should apologise rather than asking Imran Khan's party to tender an apology.
The spokesperson of the alliance said that opposition parties would launch a nationwide protest and added that it was unacceptable that the "most popular" party in Pakistan was forced to sit on the opposition benches.
He said the opposition would not tolerate the "theft" of their mandate. The alliance has also taken the decision to move courts for permission to hold public gatherings in Karachi and Faisalabad, Dawn reported.
Meanwhile, PTI leaders Raoof Hasan and Shoaib Shaheen blamed 'internal factors' for the "state of war" the country is in. He made the remarks during a press conference in Islamabad.
Hasan said he had already given a detailed response to the ISPR DG's press conference. However, he felt the need to remind him about the "darkest chapters and black days" of Pakistan's history instead of May 9, which was marked as a 'black day'.
He stressed that the military establishment's role was not "glorious," however, the "reign of terror" unleashed on the PTI over the past two years was unprecedented. Raoof Hasan said that the Constitution was trampled to crush the PTI, and establish a "one-man" rule in Pakistan to the country "virtually non-functional".
Raoof Hasan called for making the Hamoodur Rahman Commission report, Abbottabad Commission report, and the Army Public School Attack Commission report public so that the "real characters and factors" behind these tragedies could be unmasked.
Speaking on the occasion, Shoaib Shaheen said that interference in politics by the army was a breach of the Constitution. He said that PTI was leading the electoral race with a "two-thirds majority. However, the election results were unlawfully and unconstitutionally halted to fraudulently convert the PTI candidates' victory into defeat".
Meanwhile, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) core committee has called the recent press conference by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) director general "unconstitutional and illegal," Dawn reported.
PTI core committee said, security agencies should stop the "absurd tradition of interfering in politics". According to PTI central media department's official announcement, the PTI's top leadership "unanimously rebuffed" the ISPR DG's demand for an apology. It said that "propaganda" was being conducted against the PTI under the guise of a "false flag operation" on May 9, 2023.
The PTI condemned the government's action against what it termed "nationwide peaceful protests" against the "May 9 false flag operation" on Thursday, according to Dawn report. Imran Khan-founded party alleged state oppression and fascism was being used to "usurp people's basic political right to protest."
The party's committee criticized the ongoing "politics of revenge" and what it termed "attempts to crush and dismantle" PTI under "the guise of the May 9 false flag operation" and stressed that such actions should be stopped.