Staying put: PTI MPs to verify resignations en masse on Oct 29

Core committee discusses arrangements for Nov 30 rally; party will not contest the by-elections

ISLAMABAD:

A day after National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq issued final notice to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s lawmakers to individually verify their resignations on October 29, the party’s core committee decided its MPs will appear en masse to confirm their resignations.

The core committee, which met at the Bani Gala residence of PTI chief Imran Khan, also discussed arrangements for the party’s ‘decisive rally’ scheduled for November 30 in Islamabad which, according to sources, would help the party rebuild momentum for its movement against the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz government.

“We will not withdraw our resignations,” PTI Secretary Information Dr Shireen Mazari told journalists after the core committee meeting. However, she didn’t preclude the possibility of talks with the government. “We are a political party and we are ready for meaningful dialogue, but for that the government would have to accept our demands.”

Negotiators from the government and the PTI have met for over a dozen times since supporters of Imran Khan staged a dharna on the Constitution Avenue on August 16. Though both sides made progress on some issues, but each time negotiations collapsed on PTI’s demand for the resignation of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

Dr Mazari said the PTI was campaigning for a change in the system while the government had not taken any step to rectify flaws in the existing system.

Responding to a question, she said PTI legislators have also submitted their resignations from the provincial assemblies of Punjab and Sindh. “PTI lawmakers resigned from where the 2013 elections were rigged,” she added.

About Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, where Imran’s party is in power, she said the PTI was ready for re-verification of votes or audit of election results in the province, if there were any objections.



Asked about her party’s stance on by-elections, Mazari said: “We have rejected the present electoral system and would not contest any by-polls.” However, she added that the PTI would look into the situation and decide on supporting candidates in different constituencies.

November 30 rally

The core committee, according to insiders, had detailed discussions on arrangements for the November 30 rally in Islamabad. Imran has promised ‘a sea of people’ in the federal capital on that day. The decision to stage the ‘big show’ was taken after the party received an encouraging response in the form of huge turnout in its recent rallies in Karachi, Multan, Lahore, Mianwali, Sargodha and Gujrat, claim the insiders.

According to sources, the meeting discussed strategies to mobilise maximum number of people for the Nov 30 rally, so as to fulfil the unfinished agenda of forcing the prime minister to resign. Dr Mazari said the entire nation would turn up in Islamabad on November 30.

She also said the PTI has decided to hold two rallies every week after Ashura (Muharram 10). “We will stage rallies across the country, including in Balochistan,” she added.

Responding to a question, Dr Mazari acknowledged the support of Dr Tahirul Qadri’s Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) which called off its dharna in Islamabad on October 21. “Though we had support [from PAT], our objectives were different.”

Initially, PAT had demanded the ‘change of system’ in Pakistan, but then the party abruptly winded up its 67-day-long sit-in, leaving its supporters in a quandary. On Saturday, Qadri told journalists in Lahore that his party would contest all future elections in the country.

However, Dr Mazari said the PTI would not budge on its demand for the change of system. “Our stance is different from PAT as we have made it clear a year ago that we would take to the streets if justice was denied in the electoral fraud cases,” she added.


Published in The Express Tribune, October 26^th, 2014.