Horse-trading: MPAs demand Imran to prove allegations

Privileged motion filed in assembly secretariat by PTI MPA Yasin Khalil

PESHAWAR: A week after being named among a list of 20 lawmakers who had allegedly indulged in horse-trading, a member of the ruling party on Thursday filed a privileged motion in the provincial assembly which called on the party chief to prove his allegations.

The motion was submitted by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) lawmaker Yasin Khan Khalil in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Assembly secretariat on Thursday.

In his privileged motion, Khalil states that PTI Chairman Imran Khan did not issue show-cause notices to all the lawmakers he had accused of selling their votes in the recent Senate elections.



“Neither were they [accused lawmakers] granted a hearing nor were any pieces of evidence provided (to prove the allegations). The members of the assembly in the province are the honour of this house and they represent the people of their respective constituencies,” it adds.

Khalil in his motion said that defaming someone without any pieces of evidence or proof is not permitted in the Pashtun society, Islam or under the Constitution of Pakistan.

Moreover, he said that the PTI manifesto and constitution does not allow such acts.

In a news conference held on April 18 at his palatial Bani Gala residence in the federal capital, Imran had accused 20 lawmakers, including 18 from his own party, in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Assembly of horse-trading in the Senate elections. The list included Khalil.



This, the lawmaker claimed, had affected him and the privilege of the people of his constituency.

Khalil asked Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser to summon Imran to the assembly and to provide the proof of the allegations levelled against the lawmakers.

In the event Imran could not provide the requisite proof, he should then apologies for levelling false accusations, Khalil said.

Imran has come under fire for his news conference announcing the names of lawmakers allegedly participating in horse-trading. The PTI chief had announced that they would be expelling these lawmakers from the party.

Khalil though is amongst a handful of these aggrieved lawmakers who have announced their plans to challenge Imran’s accusations including before the courts.



Following a request filed by members of the opposition, K-P Governor Iqbal Zafar Jhagra has summoned a session of the provincial assembly for next week on May 3.

During the session, it is expected that the government will present its budget for the upcoming fiscal year.

However, in the backdrop of Imran’s explosive revelations, fireworks are expected in the first sitting.

Should the lawmakers, accused of horse-trading, defect, PTI may face a tough task to pass the budget owing to its fragile strength.

Their position has been made even more precarious after the PTI’s coalition partner in the assembly, the Jamaat-e-Islami, said they were quitting the coalition. However, the JI has said that it would support the ruling party on the budget.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 27^th, 2018.