The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Sunday announced that it will move the Supreme Court against the federal law ministry for turning an unsigned bill into law illegally.
The issue came up after President Arif Alvi, earlier in the day, stated that he had not signed the Official Secrets (Amendment) Act 2023 and the Pakistan Army (Amendment) Acts 2023 into law; instead, he had returned them in time.
Despite that, an official gazette notification for the two laws had been issued dated August 18.
The PTI, in a statement issued on Sunday, appreciated President Alvi for speaking up for the defence of the Constitution, law and democracy.
The statement added that the party completely supports President Alvi's stance.
The position of the President on the process of ratification of the most important legal drafts requires unusual and serious measures from all aspects, a PTI spokesperson said.
The party official added that the President had pointed out the disease, which has deeply embedded itself in the state and government structures,
The spokesperson said that for the past 16 months, a disturbing tradition has taken hold where all efforts have been made to deviate from the Constitution, violate the law, push democracy towards authoritarianism and make the state subservient to certain personalities.
The entirety of the state machinery, especially the Parliament and the Election Commission, are now working on signals from an invisible force rather than answering the Constitution.
By removing key obligations to the Constitution, the country has been pushed to a point where the law of the jungle rather than the Constitution of the republic prevails.
The media and the judiciary have been coerced by these forces, the party stated.
It added that the biggest example of this was the illegal caretaker setups prevailing in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where 170 million people were robbed of electing a government of their choice.
Further, PTI chief Imran Khan was convicted through a controversial court order and then speedily arrested. Moreover, to crush the party, thousands of its workers remain detained in jail through naked fascism.
The party claimed that the people who had given 'convicted thieves' a National Reconciliation Ordinance-II (NRO-II) and a general public pardon by amending the NAB law to defang the accountability process were the ones behind this move as well.
Noting that President Alvi was the symbol of the federation's sovereignty apart from being the supreme commander of armed forces, to nullify his decisions without his will or direction is a conspiracy that is unconstitutional and unacceptable.
We will place the matter before the Supreme Court and will urge the chief justice to investigate this from all angles via a judicial commission to ascertain those responsible, the party stated.
The PTI reiterated their demand for a judicial commission to probe the cipher controversy as well.
They reiterated that the PTI and the entire nation stand with President Alvi for the supremacy of law, democracy and their fundamental rights.
Later, some PTI lawmakers shared images of the Gazette Notification which showed that it was not signed by Alvi, thus proving his statement.
صدر مملکت ڈاکٹر عارف علوی سچے ثابت ہوئے انہوں نے بلوں پر دستخط نہیں کئے @SammerAbbas وزارت قانون کی باریک واردات کے دستاویزی ثبوت سامنے لے آئے ہے۔ صدر نے بل پر دستخط نہیں کئے اور نگران وزارت قانون نے خود سے آئین کو rewrite کرکے گزٹ نوٹیفیکشن جاری کردیا ہے۔ اس میں شامل ان تمام… https://t.co/2bq9lT1QFu pic.twitter.com/tTfmozexyB
— Farrukh Habib (@FarrukhHabibISF) August 20, 2023