Pervaiz Elahi picks up PDM’s gauntlet after court breather

LAHORE:

A day after the LHC reinstated Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi as the Punjab chief minister as Governor Balighur Rehman de-notified him as the head of the provincial government, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leaders on Saturday said that the party would ask Elahi to take a vote of confidence as soon as possible.

In a bid to stop the dissolution of the Punjab Assembly on Dec 23 (Friday) as announced by PTI chief Imran Khan, Governor Rehman had asked Elahi to take a vote of confidence two days ahead of the deadline (Wednesday). However, Speaker Sibtain Khan intervened, saying it could not happen as the Punjab Assembly was in session and calling a new one would be unconstitutional.

Subsequently, the governor had on Thursday de-notified Elahi. However, the LHC reinstated the PML-Q leader on the assurance that he would not dissolve the assembly before Jan 11 – the next date of hearing.

Speaking to the media persons outside the Zaman Park residence of the PTI chief, party leaders Fawad Chaudhry, Mian Aslam Iqbal and Musarrat Jamshed Cheema flayed the government for its political and economic policies, reiterating their commitment to stick to the decision of dissolution of Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa assemblies.

Fawad said that Imran has held a meeting of the senior Punjab leadership and a delegation of the PTI will go to meet Elahi and fix the date of taking the vote of confidence.

“All members will cast their votes in favour of Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi,” he disclosed.

Ridiculing Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah and Railways Minister Khawaja Saad Rafique, Fawad said they were being requested not to talk about the economy because it amounted to “[Narendra] Modi talking about liberalism”.

“Listen to their own finance minister (Ishaq Dar), they will know what happened to the economy,” he said.

Referring to the suicide blast in Islamabad in which one cop was martyred and six others injured, Fawad pointed out that terrorism had reached Islamabad whereas it was “non-existent” in their tenure.

He said Pakistan would have to pay the price of instability in Afghanistan. “Relations with Afghanistan are damaged,” he added.

He accused Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari of sinking the raft of Pakistan’s foreign policy, reiterating that there would be no stability in Pakistan until elections were held.

On the issue of resignations in the National Assembly, Fawad said, “When we go to the assembly and ask to accept the resignation, the speaker runs away,” he added.

Fawad said that 127 lawmakers resigned for the first time in the history of Pakistan. “At the request of Maryam Nawaz, Safdar's brother resigned and ran away,” he claimed.

“When Imran Khan announced his resignation from the assemblies, they ran away like black thieves,” he said.

Iqbal said that thieves were imposed under an “external conspiracy”.

“For seven months, the poor man has been stuck in the mill of inflation,” he said, adding that the rulers were thinking of their children and having their cases closed.

“Crime minister and Asif Zardari are involved in this conspiracy,” he said.

The PTI leader said that the provincial government will take a vote of confidence before the court's decision.

“We want transparent elections by breaking the assembly,” he said.

Musarrat said, “Elections have to be held and they will not back down from their decision.”

She said that the struggle for “real freedom” would continue in the country.

Fawad said that the court had asked in the decision when they could take a vote of confidence.

He remarked that Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain was an elderly person, and his meeting with Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif was of “no use”.

“It will only be useful for us,” he added.