Joint session: Tehreek-e-Insaf firm on boycotting parliament

Imran says party cannot endorse ‘corrupt PM’

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf has decided to take a rigid stance and not attend the joint session of Parliament, which will be addressed by Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Speaking to the media outside his Bani Gala residence, PTI chief Imran Khan said that his party would not attend the joint session taking place under a ‘controversial prime minister’ who was facing corruption charges.

“We welcome the Turkish president to Pakistan but at the same time we do not want to endorse a PM who has broken the country’s law and was engaged in corruption,” he said.

Imran had earlier decided to boycott the Parliament session owing to the ongoing Supreme Court hearing in the Panamagate scandal.

Following a meeting between Turkish Ambassador Sadik Babür Girgin and PTI’s President Shah Mehmood Qureshi, the party had announced that they would review their decision. However, the party chief on Tuesday said the PTI would stand by its decision and boycott the session.



Imran added that it had become impossible for PTI lawmakers to go to Parliament given the way the party workers were treated during the planned sit-in earlier this month.

Meanwhile, President Mamnoon Hussain has summoned a joint sitting of the Parliament on Wednesday for Erdogan’s address. Erdogan is scheduled to arrive in Pakistan for a two-day official visit.

Criticising the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, Imran said that over the past seven months the government had changed its stance several times on charges of corruption.

He maintained that proceedings in the apex court would further reveal how much the government had lied.

“We respect Turkish minister’s invitation and welcome him to Pakistan. But we cannot endorse Nawaz by going to the National Assembly,” he stated.

In regards to the hearing, PTI chief stated that the government was building up on lies to hide its previous deceits. He added that his party trusted the court and would accept its decision.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 16^th, 2016.