Bid to establish one-party rule to be foiled: PPP

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader Syed Khursheed Shah Wednesday said that attempt to establish one-party rule would be resisted tooth and nail.

He said that Prime Minister Imran Khan accepted his failure and of his government with talking about mid-term elections in just first four months of his government.

“But the failure of Imran Khan and his government is not a failure of Parliament and if the decisions are made in Parliament, the situation could be improved,” he said while talking with the newsmen at the Parliament House on Wednesday.

Syed Khursheed said when the prime minister just in first four months of his government started talking about the mid-term election, what the bigger failure will be than it. “Even such kind of comment was not made by weaker prime ministers. Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain who assumed the power for a short period of time even did not say such things,” he said.

In a reply to a question, Syed Khursheed Shah said it could not be said at this moment whether there would be new elections or change within Parliament. “The opposition and the PPP still in favour that the present assembly should complete its constitutional term,” he said.

He said the opposition did not want to create uncertain situation for the people as the country is already facing economic crisis. “Our foreign exchange reserves are draining out and country is already running on borrowed money and when one of our friendly countries gave us an installment of Rs1 billion, we started celebrating it,” he said.

PPP leader said that ruler gets through Parliament but after that he never comes to Parliament. “Nawaz Sharif’s failure was also that he avoided Parliament after coming into power and he was continuously asked to give importance to Parliament and take decisions there but it did not happen,” he said adding it is the same case with Imran Khan who is avoiding Parliament.

He said Imran khan had only come to Parliament four times in four months of his government. “Imran Khan himself stated that he would give reply to the question on every Wednesday in Parliament but failed to fulfil his commitment. It seems that he is not ready to accept supremacy of Parliament,” he said.

The PPP leader said the secret of the PPP’s success story in the past was that it always accepted supremacy of Parliament and made amendments to the constitution while no other assemblies could do it.

Syed Khursheed Shah said if they accept the supremacy of Parliament, all the issue would be resolved there. “But, in fact, they do not accept supremacy of Parliament and take all decisions outside it,” he said.

The PPP leader said he had seen Parliament of the General (R) Pervez Musharraf but it was not so weak and inefficient in comparison with today’s Parliament. “I have never seen such a weak and inefficient Parliament in last 30 years,” he said.