Khawaja Asif quits Charter of Parliament's special body after first meeting

Defence Minister Khawaja Asif pulled out of the special committee for the Charter of Parliament after only a single meeting, citing the body's "partiality" towards Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) as the reason of his withdrawal.

The minister said that the committee was formed only to address the concerns of the Imran Khan-founded party, which is an arch-rival of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).

The development comes a day after the defence minister got engaged in a heated argument with PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan in the committee's maiden meeting. 

During the session, Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) Chairman Sahibzada Hamid Raza said parliament had been attacked and that all members stood united against such an assault. In response, Asif criticised the past actions, recalling a phone call from Lieutenant General (retd) Faiz Hamid during the Senate elections.

Barrister Gohar said the committee should not focus on past grievances but instead look towards the future, though he acknowledged that understanding the background was necessary for progress. 

Asif, the incumbent defence minister, countered, pointing out that PTI’s past actions were also not clean and cited the lack of condemnation of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur's statements.

Speaking during the National Assembly session today, Asif said: "Yesterday it seemed that the special committee was only formed to address PTI's reservations after the meeting started." 

In fact, he added, the committee had been created for the betterment of parliament and the supremacy of the Constitution. 

The defence czar said he does not want to be a part of the committee, adding that the things that have been condemned were repeated during the meeting yesterday. 

"A separate committee should be formed to remove PTI's concerns," he said, demanding that the Imran Khan-founded party should express regret for its actions during its four-year tenure. 

Barrister Gohar, while speaking to media persons outside the Parliament House today, said there was no point of order on the floor of the lower house of parliament. 

He said the first thing that happened in the committee was when I raised concerns over PPP's Khursheed Shah being the chairman. "We are in the opposition, make one of us the chairman," he stressed.