Muqam says Parliament to debate ‘attack’ on Islamabad

PESHAWAR: Advisor to Prime Minister Amir Muqam said Sunday the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) “attack” on the federal capital had become a national issue and would be debated in the Parliament.

Addressing a press conference here, he said it was for the first time that a chief minister of the province along with ministers and provincial assembly speaker led a mob that wanted to attack the federal capital.

He accused the provincial government of using official resources, including helicopter, to mobilize people for what he believed was, onslaught on Islamabad. However, Amir Muqam said that the proper planning and strategy by federal interior minister and Punjab chief minister foiled the move without causing any harm to the life and property of the people.

He said the issue had been raised in the National Assembly and Senate and now the Parliament would debate how a federating unit tried to attack the federation. Amir Muqam appreciated the people of Pakistan, especially those from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa who, he said, rejected the call to lockdown Islamabad. He said those who had claimed that they would gather one million people failed to take a few thousands protesters to the federal capital.

“How can protesters, announcing to lockdown the federal capital to force an elected prime minister to resign, be allowed to take law into their own hands,” he replied to a question about teargasing the protest march from KP.

He said Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf activists’ attack on the Parliament House, state-owned television and other institutions in the last dharna (sit-in) was the best proof of violation of the laws and norms.

Flanked by the party leaders Rahmat Salam Khattak, Nasir Khan Musazai, Rashid Mehmood Daudzai, Rashid Qureshi and others, Amir Muqam said Pakistan Muslim League -Nawaz (PML-N) had street power to ring the Chief Minister’s House but it would not resort to any illegal move like PTI.

 Amir Muqam ruled out the possibility of the governor’s rule in the province, saying the PTI would not be given a chance to escape as it had failed to deliver and people of the province would throw it out of power through their votes.

The PML-N leader questioned the KP Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser’s participation in the protest against the federation. “A speaker is supposed to be become impartial after election as custodian of the assembly,” he said, and asked how a speaker could file petition on behalf of a political party.

He said there was a malicious propaganda against China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and termed it a conspiracy against the country. He said the work on the western route of the CPEC was already in progress.

“Chief Minister Pervez Khattak had expressed satisfaction at the projects under CPEC during a seminar on August 29. Why was he protesting against it now”? he added. Amir Muqam accused the PTI of following the enemies’ agenda of failing the CPEC and asked how would China invest in uplift projects if the multibillion project was challenged in the court. The PML-N leader said the Chinese ambassador had also clarified the situation and stated that all provinces were part of the CPEC and hence there was no reason for challenging the project.