ISLAMABAD: In its first meeting after Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi was sworn in, the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) leadership expressed concern over the involvement of ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif in the formation of a new federal cabinet.

“How can Nawaz Sharif chair party meetings after he was disqualified even from his party office under the Supreme Court verdict?” asked PTI spokesman Naeemul Haq on Wednesday.

Media reports said that the former prime minister presided over a meeting of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz held at his residence in Murree and consulted the new prime minister about members of the federal cabinet.

According to the PTI spokesman, the party also expressed concern over what it described as a ‘delay’ by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in pursuing cases against the Sharifs. A legal team of the party gave a detailed briefing to PTI chairman Imran Khan.

The PTI claimed that its disgruntled leader MNA Ayesha Gulalai had levelled derogatory allegations against Mr Khan at the behest of the ruling PML-N.

The spokesman claimed that Ms Gulalai had recently met Amir Muqam, the PML-N leader in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, following which she gave such a statement.

The party also condemned the remarks of Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi about the superior judiciary in his first address to parliament.

PTI spokesman Fawad Chaudhry slammed Mr Abbasi for threatening and intimidating the judiciary and other state institutions and termed it extremely dangerous.

He said that it was shameful to say that people had rejected the verdict of the apex court standing on the floor of the house. “Exhibition of posters of the disqualified prime minister Sharif on the dais of Mr Abbasi is a disgrace to parliament,” he added.

He said the PML-N was bent upon maligning state institutions and striving to establish absolute family rule. “One can oppose the SC’s verdict, but there is no room for exploiting parliament to malign the judiciary and the newly elected PM’s address exposed the evil intentions of his fascist party, the PML-N,” he said.

Mr Chaudhry said the whole nation resolutely stood behind the judiciary and any attempt and conspiracy against any state institution would not be tolerated.

PTI leader Imran Ismail said buying people’s loyalties in stooping to new levels of obscenity were the cornerstones of Mr Sharif’s political dogma. “Hanif Abbasi’s patronage is a manifestation of this ideology, he added.

He said Mr Abbasi used derogatory and misogynistic comments against women politicians.

Another leader of the PTI, Abdul Aleem Khan, said the Sharif family had a history of deceiving the nation and for this reason Nawaz Sharif had been thrown out from the Prime Minister’s House.

He said Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif would also be deposed soon from public office like his brother, adding that arrangements were being made in Kot Lakhpat jail to welcome the whole Sharif family.

Published in Dawn, August 3rd, 2017