Imran’s call for resignations has PTI MPs worried

Lawmakers say they have advised PTI chief against quitting assemblies.

LAHORE:

Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) lawmakers looked dejected and confused on the last day of the budget session at the Punjab Assembly (PA) on Thursday, after the party’s chief had apparently conveyed to them that PTI parliamentarians across the country, except in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly, would resign by August 14 to mount pressure on the government, unless PTI’s demands were met.

The 30 PTI lawmakers in the house had been protesting against the treasury benches, led by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), for two months.

However, their body language was entirely different on the concluding session of the budget debate. PTI chairman Imran Khan has called on them to submit their resignations by August 14, saying that the party wants to launch a long march against the federal government over alleged rigging in the 2013 general elections.

They had reportedly been informed the party leadership would also ask 34 PTI members of the National Assembly (MNAs) to resign in order to help make the long march more effective.

Khan has told PTI lawmakers in the Punjab and NA that the party would not dissolve Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly; instead the party would rely on it to make the long march a success.

The PTI MPAs, who would often protest in the assembly and make it difficult for the speaker to run the affairs of the house, appeared subdued on Thursday and made no attempt to make life difficult for the speaker and treasury benches.

After the session, they joined the treasury members at a lunch hosted by Finance Minister Mujtaba Shujaur Rehman and discussed Khan’s call for resignations and the long march.

Some PTI lawmakers said they had tried to persuade the party chairman against the resignation move, telling him that any such move would damage the party’s image.

But, they said, Khan believed that PTI’s low representation in the Punjab and National assemblies could not cause any problems for the PML-N. Instead, he thought resignations would help send a powerful message for the long march.

They said if the government acceded to PTI’s demand for verification of ballots in several constituencies before August 14, the long march would be called off and PTI parliamentarians would not quit the assemblies.

Assembly members from the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), PML-Quaid, Jamaat-i-Islami and independent MPAs advised their PTI colleagues against resigning. They said that instead of derailing the system, the PTI should continue their struggle in the house.

South Punjab

PML-N MPA Sardar Jamal Leghari, who had been a staunch supporter of a separate Seraiki province, said during a debate on the supplementary budget that he had withdrawn his demand for a separate province.

Leghari, who had even proposed formation of Koh-e-Suleman province, said the government’s announcement of a development package for Fort Munro had compelled him to give up his demand for a new province in southern Punjab.

Leghari, a son of late president Farooq Leghari, praised Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif for announcing Rs1.38 billion for a water supply scheme and Rs1.24 billion for installing chairlifts at Fort Munro.

During his stint as senator, he had tabled a resolution for a separate province, which had received 36 out of the total 100 votes.

Opposition lawmakers from southern Punjab criticised Leghari.

They alleged that he was interested only in the development of Fort Munro and not south Punjab. They said Leghari owned property in Fort Munro and wanted development only in his area at the cost of Dera Ghazi Khan, Multan and Bahawalpur.

They said the Rs3 billion package announced by the chief minister would help improve tourism in Fort Munro but bring no change in other areas of the region.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 29^th, 2014.