Imran boycotts joint session on Kashmir

ISLAMABAD: A day after the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan skipped the All Parties Conference (APC) on the latest Pak-India crisis, he made an unexpected decision on Tuesday that his party would boycott the Wednesday’s joint session of parliament, saying “their presence would be like endorsing Nawaz as the prime minister, which his party would not do.”

“We have debated on the matter in our party meeting  and decided to boycott the session tomorrow (Wednesday) because we think Nawaz Sharif has lost the legitimacy to remain the prime minister,” Imran said while talking to the media at his Banigala residence. He vowed to shut Islamabad towards the end of October and said the line of action would be announced on Thursday.

Imran asserted Nawaz had lost the moral justification to remain the prime minister and was trying to use the Kashmir issue to save himself from the PanamaLeaks investigations. He asked Nawaz to step down and present himself for accountability, and any other leader from the ruling PML-N might be made the prime minister in his place.

He contended that the PTI sent Shah Mehmood Qureshi to APC, who presented the party’s viewpoint on the Pak-India crisis while he himself had given a clear message to Indian Prime Minister Modi during his Raiwind speech.

The PTI chairman said that all were united against India and stood by the Kashmiris in their legitimate struggle and their demand for the right to self-determination.He gave two options to Nawaz: to resign and present himself for accountability vis-a-vis the PanamaLeaks and someone from the PML-N be made the premier in his place.

He contended that since the prime minister had ‘evaded’ giving answers on the Panamagate controversy for six months now, there was no point attending the joint session. He alleged in order to skip an investigation into the PanamaLeaks, Nawaz was undermining parliament and the state institutions.

Imran insisted that the purpose of the joint session was to express solidarity with the Kashmiris, which the PTI had already done in its All Parties Conference (APC) and the Raiwind march. He said the PTI strongly supported the cause of Kashmiris and noted that his two senior leaders Shah Mahmood Qureshi and Shireen Mazari articulated their stance in the APC. Imran said that the government’s resolution on Kashmir was weak, which was strengthened by his party.

The PTI chairman pointed out that the NA speaker referred the reference against him to the Election Commission and not the one against Nawaz Sharif. He noted how the government had rejected the opposition’s terms of reference on the Panama Papers.