At arm’s length: PTI will not ally with PAT, PML-Q
Party keen to pursue reforms agenda through assemblies.
ISLAMABAD:
The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf will keep its distance from the Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) and Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid-i-Azam (PML-Q) in its campaign for electoral reform, according to senior PTI leaders.
Speaking with The Express Tribune, party leaders said that as per a new policy, the party will remain in the assemblies and focus on electoral reform and an overhaul of the election commission, allying with the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) in this effort.
However, party leaders said that despite this shift in policy, the government says it will not allow the PTI to hold a rally on August 14 in Islamabad and will reportedly resort to placing senior leaders under house arrest if the party does not abide by the government’s order. The PTI says it is determined to hold the rally as planned.
While two senior party leaders lobby for an alliance with PAT and PML-Q, party chief Imran Khan has reportedly said, “I have no match with Qadri. If we go into alliance, he will not be able to stand with me onstage and will prefer to be in a secure container instead.” The party chairman has also ruled out an alliance with the Chaudhry brothers.
A senior party leader said the Chaudhry brothers wanted PTI assembly members to tender their resignations from the national and provincial assemblies, saying that the PML-Q will resign from the National and Punjab assemblies and Senate in solidarity. However, the party feels that if it removes itself from the present system, it will be difficult to pass electoral reforms through the parliament before the next general elections, the party leader said.
The decision to tender resignations was discussed at the last core committee, he said. “It was not a decision of the party but an option discussed among senior leadership,” he added. At the meeting, Chief Minister Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Pervez Khattak said, “I can assure you that no one from the K-P assembly will tender their resignations.” Speaker K-P Assad Qaiser reportedly backed the statement while Asad Umer reiterated that he would complete his tenure.
Additionally, senior party leaders explained that three key factors played a role in the decision to remain in the assemblies. The government has given greater representation to three PTI MNAs in the electoral reforms committee, with regards to the proportion of the party’s representation in the National Assembly. The government has also changed the text of the resolution that was passed from the Lower House of the Parliament for the formation of an electoral reforms committee and it was inserted in the resolution that the committee would look into the matters of previous election results. Thus, a PTI leader explained, “We want that at least electoral reforms are passed from the parliament through the present democratic set-up.”
He added that the party wishes to continue to introduce reforms in K-P, thereby keeping its promise to the voters and using the reform agenda as a slogan in the next election.
PTI has no representation in the upper house of parliament at the moment and, if members were to resign, the party would lose an opportunity to have representation in the next Senate elections in March 2015.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 13th, 2014.
The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf will keep its distance from the Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) and Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid-i-Azam (PML-Q) in its campaign for electoral reform, according to senior PTI leaders.
Speaking with The Express Tribune, party leaders said that as per a new policy, the party will remain in the assemblies and focus on electoral reform and an overhaul of the election commission, allying with the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) in this effort.
However, party leaders said that despite this shift in policy, the government says it will not allow the PTI to hold a rally on August 14 in Islamabad and will reportedly resort to placing senior leaders under house arrest if the party does not abide by the government’s order. The PTI says it is determined to hold the rally as planned.
While two senior party leaders lobby for an alliance with PAT and PML-Q, party chief Imran Khan has reportedly said, “I have no match with Qadri. If we go into alliance, he will not be able to stand with me onstage and will prefer to be in a secure container instead.” The party chairman has also ruled out an alliance with the Chaudhry brothers.
A senior party leader said the Chaudhry brothers wanted PTI assembly members to tender their resignations from the national and provincial assemblies, saying that the PML-Q will resign from the National and Punjab assemblies and Senate in solidarity. However, the party feels that if it removes itself from the present system, it will be difficult to pass electoral reforms through the parliament before the next general elections, the party leader said.
The decision to tender resignations was discussed at the last core committee, he said. “It was not a decision of the party but an option discussed among senior leadership,” he added. At the meeting, Chief Minister Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Pervez Khattak said, “I can assure you that no one from the K-P assembly will tender their resignations.” Speaker K-P Assad Qaiser reportedly backed the statement while Asad Umer reiterated that he would complete his tenure.
Additionally, senior party leaders explained that three key factors played a role in the decision to remain in the assemblies. The government has given greater representation to three PTI MNAs in the electoral reforms committee, with regards to the proportion of the party’s representation in the National Assembly. The government has also changed the text of the resolution that was passed from the Lower House of the Parliament for the formation of an electoral reforms committee and it was inserted in the resolution that the committee would look into the matters of previous election results. Thus, a PTI leader explained, “We want that at least electoral reforms are passed from the parliament through the present democratic set-up.”
He added that the party wishes to continue to introduce reforms in K-P, thereby keeping its promise to the voters and using the reform agenda as a slogan in the next election.
PTI has no representation in the upper house of parliament at the moment and, if members were to resign, the party would lose an opportunity to have representation in the next Senate elections in March 2015.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 13th, 2014.