PTI changes constitution

[Saifullah Sani]

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) has revised its constitution, introducing a radical change that would grant immunity to the office-bearers facing corruption charges, a major amendment that could open PTI gates for anyone tainted with corruption charges, even those powerful people who are in the government.

This is in sharp contrast to the PTI position on alleged corruption of sitting rulers who have repeatedly been asked to resign from public offices to clear charges against them, even if they have not yet been convicted by any court.

The clause governing the qualification criteria for the PTI office-bearers in the previous constitution had stated: “…who has not been convicted or charged with an offence of moral turpitude.” In the constitution revised after October 30 mammoth gathering in Lahore, the word ‘charged’ has been removed and now it only says: “…who has not been convicted with an offence of moral turpitude.”

Dr Arif Alvi, PTI secretary general, admitted the amendment has been made, saying the PTI would focus on reputation of the office-bearers instead of charges against them. He denied the amendment has been made to give a clean chit to anybody.

Incidentally, a PTI leader, Amir Kiani, who faces allegations from within the PTI for depriving the party colleagues of hefty money in the name of property business, was also a member of the committee which amended the constitution. The other four members of the constitution committee have either partnered or purchased property through Kiani. They are Dr Arif Alvi, Sardar Azhar Tariq (secretary finance), Saifullah Niazi (additional secretary general) and Asad Qaiser (PTI head of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chapter).

More importantly, Kiani has also brokered property deals with Imran Khan purchasing from him 40-kanal land in collaboration with three other PTI office-bearers, which according to some critics, makes PTI look like a ‘property guild.’

The amendment in the constitution has apparently been made to save Kiani who is not only holding the position of vice president but has also been appointed chairman of monitoring and evaluation, a slot created for him, no matter it does not exist in the PTI constitution.

A veteran lady member of the PTI who was present when these amendments were discussed by the CEC told The News that Imran Khan personally was not involved in this decision making and the CEC had deliberated at length on the subject. But she conceded that the clause needed further rectification.

The change in the constitution coincides with a letter written by a CEC member, Col (R) Younis Raza to Imran Khan alleging that Amir Kiani had minted millions of rupees from the complainant and his close friends in the name of property deals.

A PTI spokesman when emailed a list of questions that also related to the property deals, raising concerns about the conflict of interests because of these deals, said: “Such business relations among the office-bearers have nothing to do with the party affairs.”

In August, 2011, Col (R) Younis Raza had complained about Kiani’s alleged deals, saying that Kiani had sold him and two retired generals around 100 kanals of land in the outskirts of Islamabad (Talhar and Kotla) in 2004 and 2006 but were either denied possession or not given the documents. Younis also invested in a shopping plaza in Rawalpindi through Kiani in 2006 but failed to get ownership of any shop to-date.

The PTI chairman took no action over his complaint and the party spokesman Shafqat Mahmood told The News that the “issue is being settled.”

Col Younis’ closing line in his letter must be alarming for the PTI leadership: “Certain security agencies had conducted certain inquiries wherein the name of Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf had repeatedly been reiterated in this connection in a defamatory and scandalous style.”

The complainant confirmed to The News that he had written the letter that, he said, was withdrawn after no inquiry was ordered, let alone taking action. He wrote this to Imran Khan when Younis was badly in need of money prior to his son’s wedding and thought any recovery from Kiani would lessen his financial trouble.

“I thought Khan Sahib is involved in many projects and he will have no time to attend to my ‘insignificant’ complaint so I thought it best to withdraw my letter and inform him that I would mutually resolve the matter with Amir Kiani,” Col Younis told The News. However, he said, no progress had been made in this regard to-date.

Kiani has been at forefront in property deals with the top party leaders. In 2004, he purchased 40 kanals of land from Imran Khan in Talhar. Kiani was then PTI vice president. PTI’s secretary finance Sardar Azhar Tariq, secretary planning and policy Asad Ansari, and CEC member Col (R) Younis were his co-buyers in this land deal with the top leader, according to Kiani.

Again, it was Kiani who paid token money from his pocket when he negotiated a tract of 35-kanal land in Bani Gala jointly registered in the names of Imran Khan, Dr Arif Alvi, Umar Sarfraz Cheema and Zakir Khan (former cricketer and a friend of Imran Khan). Kiani confirmed this to The News.

Kiani together with his close aide Saifullah Niazi, PTI’s additional secretary general, has also purchased adjacent lands in Bani Gala apart from brokering such deals for Asad Qaiser and Ahmad Jawad (deputy secretary information), other buyers from within the party. Only non-PTI person bought land there is the owner of a famous bakery in Islamabad who financed the advertisement of a sit-in staged by the party in August 2011.

Col (R) Younis in his letter had also alleged, “Senior PTI positions including CEC memberships have been offered on the condition of purchasing land in this scheme (of Bani Gala).”

At the moment, Kiani and Niazi, command tremendous influence over the party leadership and incidentally both were appointed on positions that did not exist in the PTI constitution.

When Dr Arif Alvi was asked as to how the former was appointed chairman monitoring and evaluation and the latter additional secretary general, in violation of the constitution, he said the party chairman is authorised to do so. However, his claim is negated by the PTI constitution. It says that even the creation of special committees cannot be done unless “approved by the CEC from time to time.”

PTI changes constitution to open gates for those accused of corruption - thenews.com.pk

 

[AUz]

Believe it or not , but I ALREADY knew the source. It has to be this source to come up with this bullsh!t.

PML (N) biased source ...

Nooners are getting desperate now ...posting stuff against IK like never before

 

[Leader]

Today The News published an article by Umar Cheema titled PTI changes constitution to open gates for those accused of corruption where he argues that a portion of the PTI constitution was modified to give immunity to some favored individuals.

The Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) has revised its constitution, introducing a radical change that would grant immunity to the office-bearers facing corruption charges, a major amendment that could open PTI gates for anyone tainted with corruption charges, even those powerful people who are in the government.

The clause governing the qualification criteria for the PTI office-bearers in the previous constitution had stated: “…who has not been convicted or charged with an offence of moral turpitude.” In the constitution revised after October 30 mammoth gathering in Lahore, the word ‘charged’ has been removed and now it only says: “…who has not been convicted with an offence of moral turpitude.”

It is quite easy for a writer to play with words and use them out of context for framing his own argument, I believe this is the second time where Umar Cheema has written an op-ed and has chosen to confuse the public merely based on the confusing play of a word.

If we were to merely analyse Umar Cheemas argument – He alleges that the word “charged” had been removed in a attempt to give immunity to various office bearers, lets take a closer look to see the implications of such a modification.
Charge, is defined as “to make a claim of wrongdoing against; accuse or blame” which can easily be baseless allegation on upon someone and can remain unsubstantiated, akin to being condemned “guilty until proven innocent“. With such a myriad of potential mudslinging accusations I believe PTI deliberated hard to avoid getting sucked into a spiraling endless debate on their potential candidates being held hostage to unsubstantiated accusations or charges, they instead choose to focus on a more robust word which did in fact remain in PTI’s constitution even after the revision “Convicted” which means a verdict of guilty given by a court of law.
In both statements original & revised, the term “Moral Turpitude” did not change, for those searching for its definition can simply understand it as “the candidates reputation in society” but it can be precisely defined as “a concept which refers to conduct that is considered contrary to community standards of justice, honesty or good morals”

So in full context the PTI constitution will now select candidates who do not have an outstanding court verdict and were of good reputation within society, moving away from basing their rejection upon unsubstantiated allegations

Had if, this been the only clause in the selection of a candidate, then one might have to seriously wonder about the selection criteria of PTI candidates, but it is not, Umar Cheema conveniently forgot to mention or take into consideration the other SEVEN clauses. I reproduce here the relevant portion of the PTI constitution that is important to the discussion and can confidently challenge the readers to see if such an elaborate constitutional section can pave the way to grant immunity to any favored individuals – I let you be the judge.

Selection of Party Candidates

Only such persons shall be selected for nomination as Party candidates who fulfill the following qualifications:

Whose sources of income and wealth are not based on corruption;

Whose standard of living is in accordance with his known sources of income;

Who has not obtained plots and permits through influence and bribery;

Who has not used his influence to get remission of loans;

Who has not been convicted with an offence involving moral turpitude;

Who is not known to have any affiliation with the underworld, or known to have amassed wealth from illegal and anti-social activities.

Who shall disclose his assets and assets of his immediate family, Income earned and taxes paid before filling his nomination papers; and Who has not been directly responsible for unconstitutional acts violating the independence of the Judiciary.

All these qualifications are in addition to and not in substitution of the qualifications provided for the membership of the Parliament and the Provincial Assemblies under the Constitution and the laws of Pakistan. In case of any objection to the qualification of a candidate, the matter will be resolved by the Scrutiny Committee appointed by the Chairman for the purpose.

As regards to the property dealings which Mr. Cheema also frames in his article, there is absolutely no foul play, all are legal transactions and there can not be any issue of conflict of interest. The land was bought and sold legally to whoever paid the offer value, be it close friends or unknown individuals a pure business deal. It must be remembered that a conflict of interest comes into play when a person/leader is entrusted [ameen] with public funds or organizational funds and chooses to exploit the relationship for personal benefit and goes forth to sell these assets to his favored friends and aides. All individuals involved in the transactions, bought and sold the land with their hard earned savings.

As we can clearly see that the fundamental permise of his “charge” argument was inherently flawed, the remainder of the op-ed continues to show his deliberate effort at trying to tarnish the image of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf
Credibitly of his writings go further down into questioning that only a week earlier he wrote a scathing piece against Imran Khan accusing him of dubious financial wrongdoing in the Benami transaction, but when pushed into a corner he too inadvertently confesses on TV that its not entirely foul play

Umar Cheema on AAJ TV: (17:42) If I tell you frankly, 95% I still believe that there is no wrong doings on the part of Imran Khan or Jemima Khan, I still can’t understand why the drafters of this document used this word. was it to implicate Imran Khan? or…”
So might this all be part of a grand plan to defame PTI in the eyes of the public, I let you decide because a correspondent in The News will plead his innocence …

It is indeed, the hardest thing for an innocent to prove his innocence from heresy allegations …. versus a crook ignoring all accusations of his corruption…. this is the irony of politics in Pakistan

Cheema’s Keyword Antics from Benami to Charge | Teeth Maestro

rebuttal already arrived and nailed it the poorly anticipated out of context speculation of Umar Cheema


#PTI4Pakistan

 

[Awesome]

It was anyway wrong to include the clause of charged, being accused of corruption is not the same as being corrupt.

There are people who accuse Imran Khan of corruption, its another thing that the world laughs at such accusations.

Yes, if convicted then don't let anyone in.

After being made to apologize to PTI for his earlier gaffe, Umar Cheema is now just being a rondhu.

 

[Guvera]

Umar cheema might be getting sum qeemay walay naan from Dengue brothers, u never know, this is pakistan