Critical PML-N inviting martial law in Pakistan, warns Imran

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan has said that the constant criticism of the army and the judiciary by the PML-N leadership could result in martial law being reimposed in the country.

The Express Tribune quoted Khan, as saying he did not believe "the military intends to impose martial law in Pakistan, but the ruling PML-N leadership and ministers statements are inviting martial law in the country.

Referring to the recent spat between the interior ministry and the Pakistan Rangers following paramilitary deployment outside a court in Islamabad, Khan said, "the same judiciary which was praised by the PML-N following the disqualification of Yousaf Raza Gilani, is now being attacked by the party when Nawaz Sharif himself has been disqualified."

Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal had said "a state within state couldn't be tolerated" when several ministers, senior politicians, mediapersons, lawyers or litigants were barred from entering the Federal Judicial Complex (FJC) by Rangers officials when hearing of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif was taking place.

"The Pakistan government was wasting a good opportunity to merge the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) with Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) and demanded that the merger should take place immediately to help in institutional reforms", Khan said.

The PML-N government has stopped its entire merger plan at the behest of Maulana Fazlur Rehman and Mehmood Khan Achakzai who are least interested in the region," he said, adding that Achakzai mostly stressed on the interests of Afghanistan.

Khan said that the people of FATA were facing several problems including the military operations against insurgents and the drone attacks that have left hundreds displaced.

Khan alleged that there is widespread corruption in the insitutions in FATA region ,saying "region's secretariat had become a bastion of corruption and embezzlement, and even the developmental funds had not been spent on the people."

"Millions of rupees are taken for appointment of political agents in Fata," he said, adding that the tribal region needed to have its own government representatives in K-P Assembly so that problems of the area could be raised and resolved.