PTI not an armed outfit, says Fawad

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) was not an armed organisation, nor was it involved in any backdoor contacts with anyone, senior party leader and former information minister Fawad Chaudhry said on Wednesday.

Talking to reporters outside the Lahore High Court (LHC) after hearing of a case, Chaudhry stressed that the National Assembly speaker did not have the authority to review the resignations tendered by the PTI’s lawmakers.

“We have resigned. What will our members do after going to the speaker,” he said, while replying to a question about summoning of the PTI National Assembly members by Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf for verification of their resignations.

About the PTI’s proposed another long march, the former minister said: “We have come here to start another struggle.” He added: “The Tehreek-e-Insaf is not an armed organisation. We do not have backdoor contacts, we have open contacts, our contacts are for new elections.”

About the PTI’s petition, Chaudhry said that the government of Punjab Chief Minister Hamza Shahbaz was unconstitutional in the wake of a recent Supreme Court ruling on a reference about interpretation of Article 63-A of the Constitution.

“Hamza Shahbaz became the chief minister with the help of 25 votes of turncoats. These votes do not count after the ruling of the Supreme Court,” he said. “The high court does not have the power to [review] a decision of the Supreme Court,” he added.

“This is a matter of hours but the debate is still continuing,” he continued. “Punjab is in crisis because of which Pakistan is in crisis. Hamza Shahbaz should either get a vote of confidence or hold a re-election,” he said.

The former minister repeated his party’s criticism of the Election Commission of Pakistan, saying that the polls supervisor had practically suspended the Article 224 of the Constitution – the clause about holding elections or by-elections in the country.

Speaking about the violence during the PTI’s long march towards Islamabad on May 25, Chaudhry accused the police and other law-enforcement authorities of committee brutalities against the marchers, including women participants.

“The marchers were tortured, women were humiliated during the long march. We will take those people to task,” he said. “Let the courts decide the matter in accordance with the law and not by listening to PTI or PML-N [Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz].”