Date for dissolving provincial assemblies to be given within three days: Fawad

LAHORE: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Senior Vice President Fawad Chaudhary has said the party has decided to dissolve the provincial assemblies in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab, and a final date for the dissolution will be given within three days.

While talking to the media on Monday, the former federal minister said that a meeting of the PTI leadership was held in which it was decided to dissolve the provincial assemblies; “meetings of Punjab and KP parliamentarian parties have called on Friday and Saturday, respectively. After these meetings the assemblies will be dissolved,” he added.

He further said that PTI Chairman Imran Khan held a meeting with KP Chief Minister Mahmood Khan while on Tuesday (today) he will hold a meeting with Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhary Pervaiz Elahi on the issue of dissolving the Punjab Assembly. “The PTI parliamentary board has been constituted and thus the ticketing process for new elections is also about to start,” he added.

He also told the media that their legislators in Sindh and Balochistan will tender their resignations. The party will also approach the National Assembly Speaker to ask him to accept the resignations of their members of the National Assembly.

“After the dissolution of the assemblies and resignations, 567 seats will be vacant for fresh elections. For interim governments in KP and Punjab, they will invite the opposition to send their recommendations,” he added. He reiterated that the government still has time to review its decision of holding country-wide elections immediately. “The political instability and economic meltdown demand fresh elections,” he added.

To a question, he said the opposition does not have the number in Punjab Assembly to remove their government, adding that the act of governor rule will be unconstitutional and it was the constitutional right of a Chief Minister to dissolve the assembly.

He condemned the arrest of PTI Senator Azam Swati and added that the courts have been sleeping over the brutality meted out to the Senator. He was also critical of arrests of the youth working in social media, adding that their relatives were harassed by the authorities, but our courts were silent on the matter.

“Do the ‘powerful’ people of Pakistan only have the right to protection and only the ‘non-elected people’ have respect/dignity? The common man and elected people have no respect!” he wondered.

He said the PTI wants to put these questions before the people and institutions; the party seeks justice. “The rule of law could only be ensured in the country when no one was above the law, including the powerful people,” he added. “Khan has received a call from the son of Swati that he will be killed in a fake encounter,” he claimed. “What kind of country is this where dissident voices were permanently silenced?”

“The party has decided to hold demonstrations to protest the arrest of Swati; on Thursday the PTI workers will gather outside the Supreme Court Registry in Lahore while on Friday the lawyers will protest outside the Supreme Court,” he added.

Meanwhile, PTI Chairman Imran Khan chaired the party meeting in which the party leadership discussed the PTI Chairman’s announcement to quit all the assemblies. The leaders from KP Chief Minister Mahmood Khan, Shafqat Mahmood, Taimur Khan Jhagra, Ali Amin Gandapur, Advocate Ali Zafar, Babar Awaz, Jamshed Cheema, Ejaz Chaudhary, Firdous Shamim Naqvi, Usman Buzdar and Speaker Punjab Assembly Sibtain Khan were present in the meeting.

On this occasion, Babar Awan and Barrister Ali Zafar briefed the meeting about the constitution and legal matters. To resign from the assemblies, they enlightened the members with constitutional phases, and further options were discussed against the coalition government.

As per the sources, the legal experts were of the view that if the assemblies (in Punjab and KP) were dissolved then till caretaker governments assume the charge the incumbent Chief Minister will remain in his post. Moreover, if the government and the opposition failed to reach a consensus on a caretaker setup then the Election Commission of Pakistan will decide the matter and this will benefit the Pakistan Democratic Movement.”

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022