Javed Hashmi bows out after fiery speech

“I believe in one struggle, and that is the people’s struggle,” says Hashmi.

ISLAMABAD: Javed Hashmi, the ousted president of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), called upon National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq on Tuesday and asked him to accept his resignation that was tendered along with his ex-party colleagues last week.

Hashmi received a standing ovation from his fellow parliamentarians when he walked into the lower house just as Maulana Fazlur Rehman was delivering a speech.

Speaking at the joint session of parliament, Hashmi said he had not given his resignation ‘willingly’, but did so in order to follow his former party’s decision to quit the National Assembly. He said he asked Imran Khan not to ‘put pressure’ on party members to vacate their seats in parliament.

In what ultimately was his resignation speech, Hashmi pulled no punches as he roundly criticised Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for neglecting parliament and PTI chairman Imran Khan for compromising it.

Hashmi began with a historic precedent and displayed a fair degree of remorse over Pakistan’s actions that eventually led to the creation of Bangladesh by implying that a strong parliament ought to have accommodated Sheikh Mujibur Rehman, the leader of East Pakistan’s Awami League.

But his anger was reserved for powers within parliament and outside it. “The system to make and break governments from the inside exists,” he said to applause. Thumping his desk in anger, he said, “In 14 months, why didn’t the prime minister go to the Senate? [The Senate] is not a joke.”

He said PTI chief Imran Khan made a commitment that the party would hold a sit-in at D-Chowk only, but he did not honour this commitment. “I told him, Khan Sahib, you’ve got the entire country standing on its feet. In two or three years, elections will be the solution. But you, you’re suggesting we demolish first [forcing Nawaz to resign], and then come forward?”

Hashmi said he opposed the formation of a technocrat-led government, adding that even the Supreme Court had no jurisdiction in this regard. “I believe in one struggle, and that is the people’s struggle,” he said. He described the Model Town violence on June 17, in which 14 people were killed, as one of those struggles, and unleashed a torrent of anger over delay in its investigation.

Hashmi said the demands of Pakistan Awami Tehreek chief Dr Tahirul Qadri and PTI were quite contrary. “When the people gathered outside to destroy these walls, I asked Khan sahib, ‘How can you stand for this? Their demands are against what you stand for’.”

Referring to his detractors, he said, “People ask me when I’ve spoken now and not before. I have been fighting against every fault that I have found in my party.” Ending with a flourish, he said, “I hand in my resignation. I’m going back to the Pakistani people.” Hashmi concluded his speech to a loud applause, as a beaming Nawaz Sharif rose to greet him, before the speaker adjourned the session until Wednesday.


Published in The Express Tribune, September 3^rd, 2014.