• Achakzai calls those violating Constitution ‘security risk’, says Nawaz sidelined for following law
• Opposition alliance leaders visit Minar-i-Pakistan; supporters denied entry
LAHORE: The Tehreek Tahafuz Ayeen-i-Pakistan (TTAP) has appealed to the people to take to the streets on Feb 8 to oppose “fascism, restore the Constitution, and safeguard the country’s sovereignty”.
“Those playing with the Constitution of Pakistan are a security risk,” TTAP chief Mahmood Khan Achakzai said while speaking to journalists at the Lahore Press Club on Saturday.
Mr Achakzai invited people from all walks of life to join the movement for the restoration of the Constitution and to take to the streets on Feb 8, marking the second anniversary of the February 2023 elections. “If we do not come out on the roads to stop fascism, restore the Constitution and the country’s sovereignty on Feb 8, we will all be responsible for Pakistan’s downfall,” he warned.
Flanked by TTAP Vice Chairman Senator Allama Raja Nasir Abbas, Haqooq-i-Khalq Party chief Ammar Ali Jan and Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar, Mr Achakzai said powerful quarters had blocked the natural process of leadership development through suppression, leading to internal crises. Unlike other countries, he said, courts had even snatched a political party’s election symbol.
Referring to PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif, the TTAP chief said the former PM had tried to follow the constitutional path but was sidelined and punished with a 10-year forced exile.
Expressing hope that history would forgive him, Mr Achakzai said he had conveyed to Mr Sharif and would also speak to incarcerated PTI chief Imran Khan that the next democratic government should honour judges who did not surrender to pressure and instead resigned from their positions, by conferring upon them the title of “Heroes of Democracy”. He said such judges should eventually be restored all the privileges they had given up in their struggle to uphold the Constitution, judiciary and courts.
Responding to a question, Mr Achakzai said Pakistan could approach the United Nations to convene a round-table conference involving Pakistan, Iran, Afghanistan and China to discuss issues and find solutions. “No country alone can find and implement solutions,” he added.
Allama Nasir Abbas said the “powerful” were blocking all avenues for reform and denying people their right to protest. “If the powerful block all ways to bring reforms, the people will rise to dismantle the oppressive system,” he warned. He said the martial laws imposed by Gen Ziaul Haq, Gen Pervez Musharraf and the current “undeclared martial law” were responsible for abrogating the Constitution.
Calling on people to join the movement, he said the TTAP had been launched to restore the Constitution and empower citizens to claim their due rights.
Ammar Ali Jan formally announced his party’s decision to join the TTAP movement for the restoration of the Constitution and democracy. He lamented that parliament had been rendered dysfunctional, the judiciary weakened and the media shackled. He said the country’s GDP was stagnant, more than 40 per cent of the population lived below the poverty line, educated and skilled youth were leaving the country, while a few companies were earning billions of dollars in profits.
