Pakistan: PTI lawmakers threaten to resign from parliament

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf has decided to withdraw its lawmakers from the National Assembly and launch a movement against the new upcoming government, which is likely to be headed by Sharif, who has served as the Chief Minister of Punjab three times.

“The core committee has recommended to Imran Khan that we should resign from the assemblies. We are starting from the National Assembly. If our objections against Shehbaz Sharif’s nomination papers are not 'entertained', we will submit the resignations tomorrow,” PTI leader and former minister Fawad Chaudhry told reporters after the party held a core committee meeting at the residence of Khan.

Khan’s successor will be elected in the National Assembly on Monday and a special session has been summoned. In the house of 342, the winner would need 172 votes to become the new prime minister.

On Sunday, the Opposition had mustered 174 votes to ouster Khan.

Sharif is expected to be elected the new Leader of the House.

In 2019, the National Accountability Bureau had arrested Shehbaz and his son, Hamza Sharif, accusing them of money laundering.

It will be a real challenge for Sharif to shepherd the motley herd that also includes four independent candidates and allow Parliament to complete its five-year term that will end in August next year.

Before filing nomination, Sharif offered “special thanks” to those who stood up “for the Constitution!”

“I don’t want to go back to the bitterness of the past. We want to forget them and move forward. We will not take revenge or do injustice; we will not send people to jail for no reason, law and justice will take its course,” he said while addressing the National Assembly early Sunday.

Ex-president and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) co-chair Asif Ali Zaradri had proposed Sharif’s name for prime minister in a joint opposition’s meeting.

Zardari’s son Bilawal Bhutto is likely to be appointed as the new foreign minister.

Pakistan has struggled with political instability since its formation in 1947 with multiple regime changes and military coups. No prime minister has ever completed a full five-year term.

Khan has been claiming that the Opposition’s no-trust motion against him was the result of a “foreign conspiracy” because of his independent foreign policy. He has named the US as the country behind the conspiracy, a charge denied by Washington.

Khan, who came to power in 2018 with promises to create a ‘Naya Pakistan’, was dogged by claims of economic mismanagement and his government battled depleting foreign exchange reserves and double-digit inflation.

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Khan also chaired a meeting of the party’s core committee on Sunday to announce the future course of action.

He is expected to address his supporters here later this evening.

On Friday, Khan had said that he will not accept an “imported government” in Pakistan.

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