Imran Khan won’t accept ‘sympathetic’ parliamentary membership

ISLAMABAD: Paskistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan on Tuesday said he will not accept Parliament membership on anyone’s sympathy, urging acceptance of his party’s MNAs so they could return to the assemblies after getting re-elected with honour.

Speaking to media representatives here, he said he would lead the election campaign himself and hoped that the party would bag even more votes than what they secured in the 2013 polls.

Lashing out at Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) for insisting to table a resolution to de-seat the PTI in the National Assembly, Khan said MQM MNAs have lost the moral authority to sit in the assemblies after their chief Altaf Hussain’s ‘anti-Pakistan’ speech.

“How can they [MQM MNAs] sit in the assembly after the language used by Altaf Hussain?” he questioned.

About Maulana Fazlur Rehman, he said the worth of the JUI-F chief’s conscience was merely a ‘diesel permit’.

The PTI chairman went on to say that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has adopted a duplicitous policy over the issue, otherwise Maulana Fazlur Rehman, who he claimed was for sale for just a ministry, would not be able to drag the issue for this long.

‘Party matters not to be made public’

Meanwhile, Imran Khan has barred all party members, leaders and office-bearers from making internal party matters public. Otherwise, party membership of the guilty party that challenges party decisions and thus commits ‘serious breach of discipline’ would be revoked.

He said no one had the nerves to take over his party, adding that he was the chairman and therefore possess constitutional authority to form a team of his own choice.

There is no Qabza group (power group) present among the party ranks, he added.