ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Fawad Chaudry said on Tuesday that the incumbent speaker of the dysfunctional National Assembly had no authority to verify the resignations of the lawmakers as the current assembly is “occupied”.

Speaking at a presser along with Hammad Azhar, he said that Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) was bent upon not issuing notification to de-notify the PTI MNAs who had tendered en masse resignations from the house on April 11.

“I would like to ask the ECP to de-notify the members of the PTI who have resigned from National Assembly…don’t push us against the wall as we’re the largest political party of the country,” he added.

His statement comes a day after National Assembly Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf summoned 131 PTI MNAs, who resigned from their assembly seats, to appear before him on June 6 to verify if their resignations were genuine.

The speaker’s direction came days after former deputy speaker Qasim Khan Suri’s ruling through which he had accepted the resignations of the PTI lawmakers after they resigned en masse from the assembly in protest over alleged “foreign interference” which ousted ex-prime minister Imran Khan.

Speaking at the presser, Chaudhry said that the incumbent assembly did not have any legitimacy and termed the lower house of parliament as “occupied”.

“We don’t have any intention to go back to national Assembly,” he declared.

“President of turncoat association [Raja Riaz] has been appointed as opposition leader in NA and all appointments are being made with his consultation and this is not acceptable to us,” he maintained.

Speaking about his party’s “foreign conspiracy” allegations, he asked the Supreme Court of Pakistan as to why it was reluctant to form a high-powered judicial commission to probe the diplomatic cypher allegedly containing evidence of US-backed regime change plot.

“We want to know why the apex court is not holding inquiry into this [cypher] on the request of president which is the highest constitutional office of the country,” he added.

He also accused the incumbent rulers of allowing the Pakistani delegation to visit Israel, saying “Delhi-Tel Aviv-Washington nexus is targeting Pakistan”.

“This government is trying to establish ties with Israel,” he alleged.

At the same time, the former information minister came down hard at Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah, saying he is the replica duplicate of Muttahdia Qaumi Movement-London (MQM-London) leader Altaf Hussain.

He recalled that Altaf Hussain had shed crocodile tears after the assassination of party leader Imran Farooq, and this is what Rana Sana is doing after torturing unarmed protesters by misusing state machinery.

“The government tortured unarmed protestors and misbehaved women. Videos of police violence against the peaceful protestors have gone viral on social media which is pathetic,” he lamented.

He further said that when Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) held a long march, former prime minister Imran Khan directed chairman Capital Development Authority (CDA) to facilitate the demonstrators.

The PTI leader further criticized the incumbent regime, saying that it seems that the government has been handed over to “jokers”, which is reflected from the never ending foreign trips of Shehbaz Sharif as he has now embarked upon his sixth foreign tour at the cost of taxpayers’ money.

“After coming into power, Shehbaz Sharif declared five houses as camp offices and upgraded the swimming pool and tennis court with millions of rupees,” he claimed.

He said that Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari has been on foreign trips non-stop the day he has been appointed foreign minister, adding Shazia Marri and others are also enjoying foreign trips which shows their lust for power.

Speaking on the occasion, Hammad Azhar said that the interior minister should be ashamed of himself for what he did with women, children, and innocent people on May 25.

He claimed that the government used 65,000 tear gas shells against the peaceful long march participants of the PTI which shows their government’s disarray.

Azhar continued that the PML-N government had no strategy to deal with load-shedding which is enough to expose the incompetence of the imported government.

He claimed that the PTI government had struck a deal with Russia to the keep petroleum products’ prices low, adding India had reduced the POL products prices as it was importing petrol from Russia.

“If Pakistan had also imported oil from Russia so the government would not have to increase the POL products’ rates,” he maintained.

He added that further increase in POL products prices and electricity rates were expected in the coming days, opening the gate to inflation in the country and hitting the poor the worst.

He said that when the PTI was in power, the country’s GDP was standing at 6pc mark, while every sector of the economy was making progress and improving.

He said that after repeated appeals by Imran Khan and the PTI for importing oil from Russia, the imported government made half-hearted efforts for importing oil from Russia.

He termed the government “a cartoon”, adding that it was essential to get rid of this government or else there would be a worst load-shedding soon.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022