The Chief Minister of Punjab has vowed to uphold Imran’s decision.
The resignation of Azizullah, the first K-P MPA, was submitted to CM Mahmood.
LAHORE, PESHAWAR, and ISLAMABAD:
A day after PTI chief Imran Khan announced that he would be opting out of the “current corrupt political system” by quitting the assemblies, Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervez Elahi on Sunday guaranteed that he wouldn’t “wait for a minute” to dissolve the Punjab Assembly if the former prime minister asked him to do so.
Elahi, whose party is a coalition partner of the PTI in Punjab, has voiced their unwavering support for Imran’s decision to step down from his position in the provincial assembly in order to bring about election. “Imran Khan gave the responsibility of running Punjab over to [me]. The chief minister made the following statement: “We stand with those whom we support.”
The declaration made by Elahi comes at a time when political analysts were uncertain about whether or not the province chief executive would agree with Imran’s plans to bet the performance of the provincial administrations.
He continued by saying, “We never betray the faith of those to whom we swear allegiance.”
Imran had stated, during a public meeting that took place on Saturday in Rawalpindi, that a decision would not be made until after consultations with the chief ministers of the provinces, and that a final decision regarding this matter would be made following a meeting of the parliamentary party of the PTI.
The Chief Minister of Punjab issued a warning to the coalition government in the centre, which is led by the PML-N, that their “government, which expands over a mere 27km, won’t last for the next 27 hours” in the event that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and its allies resign from the country’s assemblies.
He went on to say that Imran Khan had been given a second life by the Almighty, and that after the former premier’s announcement at the public meeting in Rawalpindi, his political plan reached a decisive phase. He also added that the enormous audience confirmed the popularity of the former premier.
He predicted that as soon as the PTI and its supporters started to leave the assembly, the ruling alliance would begin to disintegrate at the seams. He warned the “show-offs” of the PML-N that they would suffer an unparalleled defeat once the elections for the entire country are held. He said that the humiliation will be remembered for centuries to come.
Elahi, in his commentary on the state of government in Punjab, emphasised that the nation will soon have religious and just governance, which will be to the benefit of the ordinary people and the less fortunate. He went on to say that religious governance had already been implemented in Punjab, and that a prime illustration of this was the provision of cost-free cancer treatment across the province for the benefit of the general populace.
In the meantime, PTI MPA Azizullah Gran of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Assembly became the first lawmaker to submit his resignation to the chief minister on Sunday. This came after his chairman and deposed premier Imran Khan called for the party to quit the provincial legislatures a day earlier in order to force the incumbent government to hold snap elections.
Gran, who was elected from the constituency of PK-4 Swat-III and also headed the standing committee on minerals, has begun the process of resignations from the K-P Assembly. Gran is responsible for initiating this process.
Gran stated in an interview with The Express Tribune that the position in the K-P Assembly did not hold any significance for him.
“I am resigning in writing to fulfil the order of party chairman Imran Khan,” he added. “I am sorry for any inconvenience this may cause.”
In addition to this, he stated that Imran and the party had given him the responsibility of holding the seat.
Gran said, “I am announcing my resignation from the K-P Assembly as per Imran Khan’s order.” Gran had been a member of the assembly since 2006.
The chairman of the PTI announced on Saturday that he would be changing his strategy and would be resigning from all of the provincial assemblies as a result of his dissatisfaction with the establishment and the Supreme Court for their inability to facilitate the holding of early general elections.
In the event that this takes place, the governments that the PTI currently holds in the provinces of Punjab and K-P will also be brought to an end.
The question of why Imran announced he would be leaving the assemblies and whether or not this tactic would be successful is currently being discussed.
First, Imran wants early elections because he is so well-liked by the general public at this point, and it will be simple for the PTI to win the majority of the seats if they are held right now.
Second, the possibility of the PTI chief being disqualified from further participation in several cases, most notably the Toshakhana and prohibited funding cases, is a constant threat.
A disaffected leader of the PTI stated that if the PTI left the Punjab Assembly, then it would be possible for the PML-N to form a government in the province.
While speaking on a private TV news channel, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah stated that a resolution would be submitted immediately to the Punjab Assembly for a vote of no confidence against Chief Minister Chaudhry Parvez Elahi, a stalwart of the PML-Q.
In the event that a vote of no confidence is brought forward against him, the Chief Minister will not be able to dissolve the assembly.
The chief minister’s son, Chaudhry Moonis Elahi, has declared that the Punjab Assembly will be dissolved as soon as Imran asks for it to be done so.
However, political analysts believe that if so-called “powerful circles” in Punjab oppose the dissolution of the Punjab Assembly, then the Chief Minister might also heed their counsel because of the long-term association he has had with these circles.
On the other hand, things are looking up for the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) in the province of K-P.
In the event that the PTI resigns from its seat in the KP Assembly, there is no alternative to conducting elections.
Since the PTI announced in April that it would be withdrawing all of its members from the National Assembly, the party has taken to the streets to call for early elections.
It was constantly asked of the PTI leadership why it did not force elections on the ruling alliance by either dissolving the Punjab and K-P assemblies or quitting en masse from the provincial assembly where it was in control. Both of these options would have given the PTI more authority.
Imran provided a qualified response to the question on Saturday, when he stated that the PTI would no longer be a part of the “corruption system,” but that he would consult with the chief ministers and parliamentary parties before announcing his future plan of action. This was a conditional answer to the question.
However, the ministers of the government view Imran’s pronouncement that the assemblies will be dissolved or abandoned as a face-saving measure after he was unable to assemble enough people to participate in the revolution.
