ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid on Friday said he had presented a summary to Prime Minister Imran Khan for imposing emergency and governor’s rule but so far, no decision had been taken on it.
Addressing a press conference, he said that given the ongoing situation- of buying and selling of members- in Sindh house, a summary under articles 232 and 273 regarding the imposition of governor’s rule in Sindh was presented to Prime Minister Imran Khan Friday but no decision had yet been taken on it.
He said the disgruntled Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) lawmakers staying in Sindh House to consult their constituencies.
“I appeal to all the PTI’s disgruntled members to return, assuring you that no one will say anything to you,” he said, adding he believed that the political situation that was worsening a few days ago was now moving towards stability.
The minister said the meeting of political committee which he also attended decided to approach the Supreme Court to seek clarity on article 63-A as to what kind of action to be taken against the lawmakers who had announced to vote on the no-trust motion, in violation of the party policy.
Like former president Asif Ali Zardari who has written to PPP lawmakers to ensure their presence during the day of vote of no confidence, Prime Minister Imran Khan has also written a letter to all of his lawmakers not to attend session of National Assembly, he said.
“If they did not return to the PTI, the MNAs would face humiliation in their constituencies,” Rashid said, adding “whoever had shared the videos of the lawmakers present in Sindh House have favoured the prime minister as we had received information about the presence of only about five to six PTI MNAs at Sindh house but the videos had shown nine to 12 MNAs.”
The minister said the vote of no confidence was the right of the opposition but why they deployed 480 personnel at Sindh House, saying posting a large number of police officials could cause problems. “We do not need to send police to Sindh House as we had information that eight to 12 lawmakers were in the Sindh House,” he said.
About voting on no-trust move, he said it was up to the speaker National Assembly that when he summoned the National Assembly session. The week (from March 24 to April 1) was very important in political history of Pakistan, he said.
To a question about Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) president Shehbaz Sharif’s idea of a national government, he said he had buried the slogan of vote ko izzat do (honour the vote) of Nawaz Sharif.
Rashid said the opposition had turned Sindh House into a stock exchange but no raid would be conducted at Sindh House. Karachi Stock Exchange index went down while index of Sindh House stock exchange had gone up, he said.
The minister said that on March 27 Imran Khan would stage the biggest rally at D-Chowk.
He said the country could not afford political confrontation in view of its economic situation.
Opposition parties would be facilitated to hold their long march, he said, adding “we want them to determine the route of their rally after discussing it with the local administration.”
He said “we want to mutually decide these matters including the routes for rallies.”
There was no room for conflict and mistake in the country, he said.
However, he said the opposition should not remain under any misconception as to what would happen if the situation deteriorated.
He also appealed to the government’s allied parties to support Prime Minister Imran Khan.
The minister also said that a decision had been taken that all the limited over matches between Pakistan and Australia had been shifted to Lahore from Rawalpindi due to the current political situation.
He said that “earlier we have summoned 1,000 personnel of the Rangers and 1,000 of FC for deploying in the Red Zone from March 20 to April 2 and we summoned more than 1,000 personnel of Rangers.”
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022