Cracks emerge in opposition alliance
Muttahida Qaumi Movement lawmakers staged a token walkout after not being able to move a resolution calling to lift the ban on the coverage of party chief Altaf Hussain’s speeches. PHOTO: ONLINE
Cracks appear to be emerging in the opposition in the provincial assembly after two lawmakers from the protest camp, set up outside the chief minister’s office in Peshawar, met with the provincial chief executive.
Members of the opposition benches in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Assembly set up on Tuesday a protest camp outside Chief Minister Mahmood Khan’s office to protest the government’s reluctance to issue them development funds.
But on the third consecutive day of the protest camp, Pakistan Peoples Party’s PPP Badsha Salih and Awami National Party’s (ANP) Bashir Umerzai, left the camp and ventured into the CM House to meet with the chief minister.
The two MPAs briefed the CM on the issues in their constituency and urged the chief minister to release funds.
However, Umerzai rejected the notion of a rift.
He said that the CM house had approached him for the meeting. Furthermore, he said that he had taken his party’s leadership into confidence before going trip to the CM House.
Meanwhile, Mahmood has promised to address the issue faced by them and appreciated the warm welcoming gestures.
Almost all resignations
Meanwhile, lawmakers from parties united under the banner of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) have tendered their resignations to their respective parliamentary leaders or provincial party chiefs.
However, the gesture has come over a course of a few days while some have refused to tender them.
Of the 41 MPAs who sit on the opposition benches in the K-P Assembly, only 38 have submitted their resignations.
A source within the provincial assembly told The Express Tribune that of the eight MPAs of the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), two have refused to tender their resignation.
Even though the JI is in alliance with the PDM president Maulana Fazlur Rehman under the banner of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), lawmakers Inayatulah Khan and Sirajuddin from Bajaur and Humaira Khatoon are not willing to step down.
Moreover, independent candidates including Amjid Afridi, Mir Kalam Wazir, Ihtisham Javed, Faisal Zaman, have decided to hang on to their seats while the Balochistan Awami Party’s (BAP) Abbas Rehman, Baseerat Khan, Bilawal Afridi, and Shafiq Afridi are undecided.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 11th, 2020.