PPP should declare whether it is ‘with or against’ Constitution: Qureshi

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Vice Chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Sunday told PPP’s leadership to announce whether they were standing “with or against the Constitution,” a development that comes as the Supreme Court discusses the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) decision to delay polls in Punjab, Aaj News reported.

Talking to reporters in Karachi, the PTI leader urged the political parties that wanted to abrogate the Constitution to come out in the open, clarifying that “silence is not an option”.

“Either the PPP stands with the Constitution or it should outright announce that it is abrogating it,” he said.

The PTI leader said that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had earlier invited PTI for talks but yesterday he said dialogue was possible with Imran Khan and PTI.

“Sometimes they ask us to come to the assembly and fulfil our responsibility but [at the same time] the National Assembly speaker [Raja Pervaiz Ashraf] is becoming a hurdle,” he said.

“I hope the high court will give a message to the speaker so that PTI members can go to the assembly.”

The former foreign minister said that the ECP had earlier accepted the Supreme Court’s decision by issuing the election schedule. “PML-N and PPP also took part in the nomination papers process,” Qureshi said.

Criticizing the government’s passing of the bill regarding curtailing the chief justice’s powers, he said the Supreme Court’s powers can only be undone through a constitutional amendment.