Pakistan | Imran claims undeclared ‘martial law’ to be implemented in Pakistan; petitioned the court

File Photo Islamabad. Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Imran Khan has filed a petition against the government for the implementation of Article 245 in several provinces of the country, calling it an undeclared ‘martial law’. According to Article 245 of the Constitution of Pakistan, the army can be called in to assist the civil administration in protecting the country. Khan has filed a petition in the court challenging the implementation of Article 245 in Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan and Islamabad and termed it as undeclared ‘martial law’. The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party chief said the arrests, investigations and trials of civilians under the Army Act, 1952 are unconstitutional, invalid and have no legal effect. He said this tantamounts to rejecting the Constitution, rule of law and independence of the judiciary. Khan has requested the top court to order setting up of a judicial commission to probe the violence that broke out on May 9 following his arrest, Dawn newspaper reported. According to the report, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam Nawaz, former President Asif Ali Zardari, JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman and others have been made respondents in the petition. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has said that the May 9 attackers attacked Pakistan’s pride and gave the country’s enemies a chance to celebrate. “I do not view the tragic events of May 9 as just a demonstration that turned violent,” he said in a tweet on Thursday. The people who hatched this conspiracy had nefarious intentions. “The shameful events were clearly staged,” he said, as the entire nation witnessed how the lust for power of a few made them do things that had never happened before. Sharif said violent protests had broken out on May 9 after Khan was arrested from the premises of the Islamabad High Court by personnel of the paramilitary force. A dozen military installations were vandalized by the mob. For the first time in the country’s history, the mob had even entered the army headquarters in Rawalpindi. Police put the death toll in the violent clashes at 10, while Khan’s party claimed 40 of its workers were killed in firing by security personnel. (agency)