Following in the footsteps of the main opposition party, a breakaway faction of Pakistan Muslim League Quaid (PML-Q), on Saturday demanded that Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani step down immediately.
“Prime Minister Gilani should immediately step down,” said Senator Salim Saifullah Khan of PML-Q (Likeminded) at a press conference. if Gilani resigns, there is a possibility that the next prime minister would also flout the court orders and spark off additional chaos, according to him.
“In order to avert such a scenario, the government should consult the opposition to create a caretaker setup for holding early elections under the supervision of an independent election commission,” he added.
On Thursday, the Supreme Court convicted Gilani in a contempt case. The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) wasted no time in calling the prime minister to step down, claiming that he has been disqualified and is no longer a member of the parliament. Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan also demanded the premier’s resignation following the court’s decision.
Flanked by his party’s general secretary, General Humayun Akhter Khan and former speaker National Assembly Gohar Ayub, Senator Khan said that PM Gilani often boasted that he had issued release orders for judges in his first speech on the floor of the house, and now he should honour the orders of those same judges.
“We are a small party but will continue to perform our due role,” Khan said, while adding that the party’s future course of action would be decided in a meeting with the PML-N and others in the opposition.
He revealed that opposition leader Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan had invited PML-Q Likeminded and others, including Maulana Fazalur Rehman’s Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI), for consultation on the topic on Monday, April 30.
Responding to a question, Gohar Ayub said that the incumbent speaker should immediately take the matter of the premier’s disqualification to the Election Commission.
Responding to a question, Ayub said that there is no justification for introducing a privilege motion against the decision of the court. In order to substantiate his point that Gilani should leave his office, Ayub cited multiple examples of political resignations from the UK, Norway and of Lal Bahadur Shastri from India.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 29th, 2012.
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