Salaries of PTI’s resigned members are suspended: Fawad Chaudhry

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Senior Vice-President Fawad Chaudhry on Thursday tweeted that the salaries of resigned members are suspended and no member is getting salary.

Fawad Chaudhry tweeted, “It was said in the Supreme Court yesterday that PTI MNAs are not coming and taking salaries. Judges should first go through the verification process of every news coming on the media. The fact is that this was another government lie, the salaries of resigned members are suspended and no member is getting salary, today a letter is being written to the Speaker.” He asked the NA speaker to tell them the time when the MNAs should come to him once again to confirm their resignations.

Meanwhile, Fawad Chaudhry said Thursday that the party might announce the dissolution of assemblies either on December 17 or 23.

“The coalition government isn’t serious about dialogue,” the former information minister told a press conference in Lahore, as the PTI is persistent that only snap polls are the solution to end the ongoing political and economic instability in the country, reported local media.

The claim comes a day after PTI Chairman Imran Khan announced that he would give a date for the dissolution of both — Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa — assemblies on December 17 during a public gathering.

Assuring that his party tried holding talks with the government, Fawad said even President Arif Alvi attempted to negotiate with the rulers, but he was “upset” due to their attitude. The ex-minister claimed that the government was not “serious” about holding talks as it was aware that when the country moves towards the general elections, people would opt for the PTI. “Once interventions in politics end, everyone will see [who will come out victorious]. I hope that all state institutions will work for the country’s stability.”

The deposed prime minister has also rubbished the impression that the PTI is looking towards the establishment for support. However, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah told Khan a day earlier “that establishment would not get him the election date and neither will 2018 general elections-like facilities” be available.

Moreover, Fawad also noted that PTI lawmakers — who resigned en masse in April this year — were not receiving their salaries and asked Qureshi to investigate whether the government had “taken their salaries”.

For his part, Qureshi told journalists that the National Assembly Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf resorted to “unconstitutional measures” when he accepted selective resignations of PTI lawmakers.

“123 of our lawmakers resigned en masse but their resignations were accepted selectively. This is against the Constitution,” the former foreign minister said.

Despite that, people gave the mandate to Khan during the by-election as PTI defeated the multi-party ruling alliance in the Centre in majority of the polls.

“They used our resignations to fulfil their political aims. But we still won 75% of the by-elections,” he added. The PTI vice-chairman said that he was also writing to the speaker for deciding a date for accepting PTI resignations. “He can either accept our resignations all at once or he can call us individually.”