Decision to dissolve KP assembly postponed: Mahmood

Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Mahmood Khan said Thursday that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has decided to postpone the dissolution of the provincial assembly until the future of the Punjab Assembly is decided, Aaj News reported.

The development comes a day before the scheduled date for the dissolution of the KP and Punjab assemblies.

On December 17, PTI chief Imran Khan announced that both provincial assemblies, where his party is in power, would be dissolved on December 23 to pave way for fresh elections.

In a media talk outside the Hayatabad Sports Complex in Peshawar today, Mahmood said: “Imran Khan will first decide the future of the Punjab Assembly.”

“Right now, consultation on the matter of the Punjab Assembly is underway. The decision regarding the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly will be taken after these discussions.”

The chief minister said he was in constant touch with the party leadership, and so far had not received any instructions on the dissolution.

“I will contact Imran Khan today but first a decision regarding the Punjab Assembly will be taken.

Earlier today, Special Assistant to KP Chief Minister Barrister Muhammad Ali Saif tweeted that the dissolution of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly will be as per Imran Khan’s orders.

It is to be noted that Imran Khan is expected to announce a “new plan of action” in a PTI protest outside the Punjab Governor House at 5 pm today.

Crisis in Punjab

The tussle between the government and the opposition continues to deepen since PTI Chairman Imran Khan announced the dissolution of the assemblies in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, with the PML-N and allies deliberating on ways to prevent the move.

On Monday, the Punjab Governor issued an order, calling a fresh session of the provincial assembly and requiring Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi to obtain a vote of confidence.

The governor said Elahi had lost the confidence of PML-Q head Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and party members, adding there were also reports of a confrontation between the PTI and PML-Q on various issues.

However, on Tuesday, Punjab Assembly Speaker Sibtain Khan termed Governor Balighur Rehman’s move for summoning a fresh session of the provincial assembly illegal.

The Punjab Assembly Speaker maintained that the governor cannot call a fresh session when the previous one is already going on. The ongoing session was called by the speaker and it could not be ended by the governor, he stressed. He said the Assembly Secretariat would not issue a gazette notification of the fresh session called by the governor on Dec 21.

Responding to the speaker’s ruling today, the governor said that it held “no bearing”.

Rehman, in his response, addressed two main concerns raised in Khan’s ruling. Regarding the first concern, the governor said he had implied in his Dec 19 order that “if the ongoing session was prorogued by your good self (PA speaker)” any time before 4pm today then “a new session was required to be summoned” at 4pm today for the vote of confidence.

“In the alternate, a sitting of the assembly at the noted time and date could have been summoned in the 41st session of the assembly, which your good self has also noted that it was summoned by me and was never prorogued; or a fresh session specifically summoned for the purposes of requiring the chief minister to obtain the vote of confidence,” the order reads.

Earlier on Wednesday, Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Parvez Elahi said that his party Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) was supporting Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan with "whole-hearted sincerity," stressing that people spreading rumours regarding differences between the two parties were following a nefarious agenda and will fail.

In a Tweet, CM Elahi said that his party was "united and will remain united."

On Tuesday, PML-Q leader Moonis Elahi said that the "strategy to dissolve Punjab Assembly was completed" in a meeting with PTI Chief Imran Khan, adding that "no matter how hard the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) tries, it cannot stop early elections.

For weeks, PML-Q leadership has tried to reassure Imran Khan that the party stands by the promise it made with the PTI regarding the dissolution of the Punjab Assembly.

"It will be done when Imran Khan wants it to happen," Moonis had said earlier.