Fawad scotches talk of PTI returning to NA

ISLAMABAD:

Days after PTI appeared to head back to the National Assembly, party leader Fawad Chaudhry on Wednesday said it did not otherwise have any intention of doing so but it would definitely set the key slots in the lower house as a condition for return to parliament.

Eyeing the important positions the former ruling party had renounced and lost to its dissidents last year – including that of the opposition leader and PAC chairperson – Fawad shared that the PTI intended to reclaim the positions if it were to rejoin the assembly.

Chaudhry said this during his appearance on the Express-News programme 'Hashtag Siyasat'.

Asked whether the PTI had made up its mind about making its way back to parliament, the PTI leader made it clear that the party will not go back to the National Assembly but added, "if the NA speaker was keen on seeing party's attendance in the businesses of the lower house, it would definitely be for the slots".

Currently, PTI dissident Raja Riaz is leading the parliamentary party in the National Assembly. The ‘opposition leader’ heads the group of PTI MNAs who did not tender their resignations when the party decided to quit the assembly en masse following Imran Khan’s ouster last April.

A day earlier, in an apparent move to detail PTI’s intentions to bring a confidence motion against Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, the speaker swiftly accepted the resignation of 34 PTI lawmakers.

It was being reckoned that Imran’s announcement of bringing a no-confidence move against PM Shehbaz was a ploy to push the speaker into accepting the resignations quickly. However, Ashraf only accepted the number required to ensure that the prime minister faced no threat.

Meanwhile, the PTI’s plan to take back the key slots in NA was also confirmed by sources who said that the former ruling party has decided to contact NA Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf to formally put forth the demand of being handed over the positions of the opposition leader, PAC chairpersonship and parliamentary leadership.

The task has been assigned to PTI leaders Pervez Khattak and Amir Dogar, who are likely to contact the speaker on Thursday (today) and will also hold a meeting with the latter if he is available.

The PTI is expected to press for the three positions as it still remains the main opposition party in the House despite the acceptance of the resignations of its 34 more MNAs.

Fawad, during the same interview, said the PTI would have no objection if the ruling coalition decided to conduct general elections in September or October this year.

Reiterating his party’s grievances about being meted out unfair treatment at the hands of the former military chief Qamar Javed Bajwa, the PTI leader claimed that the establishment had approached Punjab Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi asking him to not dissolve the provincial assembly.

“So the establishment did not remain apolitical in the scenario,” he said and claimed that the former army chief’s ‘setup’ was still operating.

Commenting on the prospects of the PTI-PML-Q merger, Fawad said the party has presented its proposal for the merger with PTI to the leadership of the PML-Q – who is an ally and wishes to support PTI in the upcoming elections.

However, no decision has yet been taken to hand over Punjab's presidency to CM Elahi or pick him as the chief minister of the province again after the upcoming elections.

Also on Wednesday, PTI leader Asad Qaiser took great exception to National Assembly Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf’s decision to suddenly accept 34 PTI resignations, saying Ashraf has “great injustice with his office”.

Speaking during an interview on a private news channel, Qaiser said: “When you occupy a constitutional position, then you should make decisions keeping in mind the law and the Constitution. You have to act in accordance with the law [rather] than fulfilling the wishes of political people.”

He recalled that the NA speaker had recently told a PTI delegation that the party’s lawmakers would be summoned individually for verification of their resignations.

“Did he complete that process? What he has done is totally illegal and unconstitutional.”

He also questioned the rationale behind the piecemeal acceptance of the resignations, adding that the speaker’s move was in contravention of the law and the Constitution.

Qaiser further said that the speaker had said that he would make sure the PTI lawmakers were given time to voice their concerns and also asked them to return to parliament.

“Whatever he has done will be a dirty stain in our assembly’s history.”

He also alleged that the resignations were accepted on the orders of PPP co-chairperson Asif Ali Zardari.

However, he said that the acceptance of the PTI resignations had actually played in PTI’s favour as the by-election would take place alongside provincial polls.

It is pertinent to mention that a total of 123 PTI MNAs had resigned en masse on April 11 last year – two days after their party chairman was ousted as the prime minister through a no-confidence motion.

Former NA deputy speaker Qasim Suri had accepted their resignations.

However, on April 17, the newly elected NA Speaker Ashraf directed the assembly secretariat to deal with the resignations of the PTI lawmakers afresh and present them before him so that they could be treated as per law.

Later in June, the ruling coalition had formulated a strategy on the matter of the en masse resignations of the PTI lawmakers from the assembly and agreed to proceed with phase-wise acceptance, following which, the NA speaker proceeded to accept 11 of them.

They included those of PTI’s key leaders: former human rights minister Shireen Mazari, ex-interior minister Ijaz Ahmed Shah, ex-state minister for parliamentary affairs Ali Muhammad Khan, and ex-state minister for information and broadcasting Farrukh Habib.

Last month, the NA speaker asked PTI MNAs to tender hand-written resignations to him, saying that the purpose of calling these lawmakers in person was to ensure that they were “willingly” leaving their seats in the House.

However, after the PTI chief’s announcement of seeking a vote of confidence from PM Shehbaz, the speaker accepted the resignations of 34 more PTI MNAs.

They include Murad Saeed, Umar Ayub, Asad Qaiser, Pervez Khattak, Imran Khattak, Shehryar Afridi, Qasim Suri, Najeeb Haroon, Aslam Khan, Aftab Jahangir, Attaullah, Aftab Hussain Siddiqui, Ali Haider Zaidi, Alamgir Khan, Saifur Rehman, Fahim Khan, Zartaj Gul, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Amir Dogar, Shafqat Mehmood, Hammad Azhar,  Sanaullah Khan Mastikhel, Fawad Ahmad, and Mansoor Hayat.

Similarly, Aliya Hamza Malik and Kanwal Shauzab, both elected on reserved seats, have been accepted as well.

The resignation tendered by AML chief Rashid was accepted too.