Jailed PTI leaders accuse PML-N, PPP of 'violating' Charter of Democracy
"Democracy can only progress when there is civil supremacy," say incarcerated leaders
July 09, 2025
PTI leaders claim current ECP involved in manipulation of 2024 polls.
- Accuse PPP, PML-N of destroying democracy for power grab.
- Both parties responsible for undermining independence of judiciary.
Incarcerated leaders of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) have accused the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) of "violating" the Charter of Democracy (CoD), a political agreement signed in 2006 between former prime ministers Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif.
In a joint statement issued from jail, senior PTI leaders, including Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Dr Yasmin Rashid, Senator Ejaz Chaudhry, and Umar Sarfaraz Cheema alleged that the two major political parties had "systematically dismantled" the democratic framework outlined in the CoD, The News reported.
They maintained the two parties took a U-turn and destroyed democracy, leaving it in shambles. “The lust for power was too big a temptation, and Imran Khan had become a major obstruction in that path. Democracy can only progress when there is civil supremacy,” they said. The 1973 Constitution spelled it out for the people of Pakistan, they said, adding in the CoD, both parties had committed about it.
The PTI leadership said the PML-N and PPP went back on their words and went for a regime change. “Today, we have a government which is proud to call itself a ‘hybrid regime’. The most vocal proponent of this regime is Khawaja Asif, the defence minister. We wonder where is Nawaz Sharif going to support it.”
They said the Supreme Court has always been considered as the custodian of the Constitution. "Both parties had committed to an independent judiciary in the COD. Today, both the parties are responsible for undermining the independence of the judiciary through the 26th Amendment," they added.
The PTI leaders further said Benazir and Nawaz had agreed to an independent election commission in the CoD, alleging that the current ECP was involved in the manipulation of the February 8, 2024 elections. The mandate of the people of Pakistan was stolen and given to the Form-47 government, they maintained.
They said that the PLM-N supremo must be feeling very embarrassed as “Vote ko Izzat Do” was his narrative, however, the “love for his daughter probably supersedes all his sane thoughts”.
