Govt attempting to create ‘another elite class’ says PTI’s Gohar

ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly deliberated on the contentious 27th Constitutional Amendment bill on Tuesday — a day after the government succeeded in manoeuvring it through the Senate — with PTI’s Barrister Gohar Ali Khan accusing the government of attempting to “create another elite class”.
He made these remarks particularly in reference to a proposal under the 27th Amendment to grant the president lifetime immunity from criminal proceedings and arrests.
Speaking after Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar, who presented the bill in the lower house of Parliament, PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan condemned the 27th Amendment.
He said that “with the passing of this amendment, democracy here will only exist in name”, adding that his party “will not accept” it.
It was a disservice to the “constitutional oath”, he decried. “When you take the oath, you vow to exercise responsibility and honesty for the good of the people and democracy,” Gohar added.
Speaking about the proposal to establish a Federal Constitutional Court (FCC), he recalled that “this was also a part of the agenda for the 26th Amendment last year”. He claimed that the government had declared it “unconstitutional” back then.
“The head of state was issuing orders from Baku and so we are labelling this the Baku amendment,” Gohar continued, apparently referring to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif presiding over a federal cabinet meeting — which approved the amendment — via a video link from Baku.
Barrister Gohar recalled that “when the current government first came into power, the first thing they did was amend the National Accountability Ordinance,” claiming that they got “rid of all corruption cases filed against them” by doing so.
“Now, on their way out, they want to give themselves immunity and hold themselves above the law,” he alleged.
The PTI chairperson stressed that “real democracy requires one to uphold the law and practice accountability”.
He went on to question: “In what part of the world does the president have lifetime immunity? “Can you not appear in front of a court and prove your innocence?”
Continuing his speech, Gohar said: “The day he (jailed PTI founder Imran Khan) gets free, when that man of steel is freed, whatever he says, his words will be declared as the Constitution.”
Then, coming back to the matter of immunity for the president, the PTI chairman said, “We make the law, and then while calling ourselves the protectors of the said law, we decide to grant ourselves immunity.”
“What face will you show to the people of Pakistan? People who have run out of patience, who do not have the means to eat, or pay hospital bills, people who do not have access to justice in courts,” he remarked.
Barrister Gohar said that by trying to pass this clause under the proposed amendment, the government was attempting to “create another elite class on top of the one that already exists.” Staff Report