PTI lawmakers want Nawaz, Khattak to go

In resolutions submitted to assembly secretariat, PML-N MPA asks Speaker, finance minister to resign

PESHAWAR: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf [PTI] and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz [PML-N] lawmakers are apparently at loggerheads in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa [K-P] Assembly as both the parties submitted resignation resolutions in its secretariat.

PTI lawmakers demanded Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s and Chief Minister Pervez Khattak’s resignations, while PML-N submitted resolution seeking K-P Assembly speaker’s and finance minister’s resignations.

PTI lawmaker Shaukat Yousafzai submitted a resolution in the K-P Assembly’s Secretariat on Monday demanding the immediate resignation of Premier Nawaz after the apex court’s verdict in the Pamana Papers case.



Yousafzai, in his resolution, stated the prime minister has lost moral grounds to stay in the office.

“He is not only facing corruption allegations but has also been declared unfit for the office. A Joint Investigation Team has been constituted to investigate allegations of corruption against him.”

Yousafzai said sitting in the prime minister’s chair Nawaz Sharif will try to influence the investigation and in his presence free and impartial investigations will not be possible.

On the other hand, PML-N parliamentary leader Sardar Aurangzeb Nalota also submitted two resolutions; one against the K-P Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser and the other against K-P Finance Minister Muzaffar Said of Jamaat-e-Islami [JI] demanding their resignations.



Nalota stated in his resolution that the K-P assembly speaker is facing allegations of millions of rupees corruption, on the basis of which the National Accountability Bureau [NAB] has given approval for a probe.

“Respecting the decorum of the office, the K-P assembly speaker should resign from his office until he is cleared of all the allegations,” Nalota said and added that his designation will not let the investigation body do its job properly.

Last month, the NAB chairman had given approval for the verification of a complaint lodged against Qaiser for allegedly accumulating assets beyond his known sources of income.

Nalota also attacked the PML-N political rival JI, the PTI ally in K-P government, demanding judicial inquiry into the Bank of Khyber’s scandal which surfaced last year in April. The Bank of Khyber’s managing director published an advertisement against Said accusing him of illegal appointments and using bank’s resources for JI rallies.



“The issue was sidelined without any investigation using the government’s power. The corruption of the finance minister caused losses to the bank worth millions of rupees,” Nalota stated in his resolution. He demanded the K-P government to conduct an inquiry of corruption under the supervision of the chief justice of Peshawar High Court.

“JI chief Siraj-ul-Haq chants slogans of corruption-free Pakistan, but he can’t see corruption in his own house,” he said.

Similarly, the PTI’s own lawmaker and K-P former minister for mines and minerals Ziaullah Afridi via another resolution demanded the resignation of the K-P chief minister over corruption allegations in mines and minerals sector levelled by former director general of K-P Ehtesab Commission General [retd] Hamid Khan.

Afridi said no action has been taken on the basis of allegations by Khan which shows that the K-P Ehtesab Commission is under the influence of the K-P government. He demanded the resignation of Khattak along with action against him by the current director general of the commission.

The K-P Assembly session will be held on Tuesday [today].