ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Senior Vice-President Chaudhry Fawad Hussain on Friday said disqualification of 25 MPAs will send the Hamza Shehbaz government packing, adding the government is tied to a weak string and nobody is willing to take responsibility for it.
“No one will have 186 members in the Punjab Assembly after the disqualification of the 25 MPAs,” he said and asserted that if the Election Commission of Pakistan is unable to hold elections in 90 days, it should better go home.”
Addressing a news conference here, he said the basic reason for this is two cases pertaining to turncoats and one case about 25 turncoats in the Punjab Assembly, and because of this, neither the governor is ready to recognize this so-called provincial government nor the speaker of the Punjab Assembly.
He pointed out that as per the court decision, the National Assembly speaker administered oath to Hamza Shehbaz, saying this provincial government is a temporary set-up. The ECP will announce its decision about their fate as there is an obvious difference between this case of MPAs and of MNAs under Article 63A. However, in the case regarding PTI's dissident MNAs, they have shamelessly submitted an affidavit to the ECP that they are part of the PTI and believe in the leadership of Imran Khan. “And, this way, they think they will survive disqualification but they will not,” he maintained.
About Punjab Assembly’s 25 members, he contended that the commission should have summoned them in a single day as they had clearly voted against the party line, whereas 30-day period was maximum time to decide such cases. Fawad said he heard that courts are open 24 hours, but for the ECP, this matter was routine and it fixed the hearing for Tuesday. He said the the Supreme Court will resume hearing of Article 63A matter on May 9 and it is a very positive development. He appealed to the Supreme Court of Pakistan for a final judgement at the earliest as it would help restore the political stability in the country.
He said Punjab should be seen in terms of population of 10 big countries of the world and there is no country in Europe with such a large population, yet this province continues to be in an administrative crisis.
Fawad said the prime minister requires 172 votes to remain PM, but three of their members have declined to support Shehbaz Sharif and hence he has now the support of 168-169 members. “When this matter of Article 63A is decided in the apex court, the PM will have to take a vote of confidence, and he no longer enjoys support of 172 members. Before May 20, I strongly hope the governments in Punjab and in the Centre will be gone and the public rule will be restored,” he asserted.