One-week reprieve: Speaker defers voting on unseating PTI lawmakers

Two motions seek to unseat 28 MNAs from Imran Khan’s party.

ISLAMABAD:

As the major political groups agreed Tuesday on an out-of-parliament solution to a ‘potential political crisis’, National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq deferred voting for a week on two motions seeking to unseat 28 Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) lawmakers for absenting from the lower house of parliament for more than 40 days.

The deadline was fixed after Opposition Leader Khursheed Shah said it would not be in favour of parliament to drag the issue for an indefinite time.

Shah’s friendly remarks indicate that his party — the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) — apparently wants to find favour with the PTI and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) at a time when PPP’s government in Sindh is faced with a stringent scrutiny and governance challenges.

The opposition leader has openly supported the PTI and the MQM inside and outside parliament. He has also refrained from demanding any action against the lawmakers of Imran Khan’s party.



Shah advised the government to resolve the controversy amicably before it turns into a crisis. “Follow in our footsteps and you will govern this country for a decade,” he said as he criticised the hawkish approach of the ruling party’s lawmakers.

The two motions seeking unseating of PTI’s lawmakers were moved by MQM MNA Muhammad Salman Khan Baloch and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl’s Naeema Kishwer.

Finance Minister Ishaq Dar informed the speaker that the government wanted to move forward with a positive approach. “Voting on the resolutions against the PTI should be deferred because the government is willing to discuss the issue with the party outside parliament.” Dar advised the speaker against allowing speeches on the matter as they would cause animosity.

He also presented the agreement between the PTI and the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz on the constitution of the judicial commission for investigating PTI’s allegations of rigging in the 2013 general elections.



He also presented the commission’s report for discussion, but some parliamentarians were in no mood to spare the PTI lawmakers any harsh criticism and demanded unseating them immediately.

Appreciating the speaker’s efforts for resolving the issue, PTI leader Shah Mehmood Qureshi said his party wanted to play a positive role in parliament, as it has already accepted the decision of the judicial commission. “The house may unseat the PTI MNAs if it deems it appropriate.”

Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party leader Mehmood Khan Achakzai suggested action against the MQM as well over the party’s support to the Islamabad sit-in. “The MQM should apologise for distributing food among [Pakistan Awami Tehreek chief Dr Tahirul] Qadri’s supporters.”

In response, MQM leader Abdul Rashid Godil clarified that his party had arranged food for the sit-in’s participants on humanitarian grounds.

Achakzai also suggested adopting a unanimous resolution stating that absolute powers rested with the people of the country and that the law and the Constitution were supreme.


Published in The Express Tribune, July 29^th, 2015.