LAHORE: In the context of the heated political environment of Punjab, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan is addressing the party workers and supporters through a video link from his residence Zaman Park in Lahore.
The ousted prime minister is expected to make an “important” announcement in his address. A day earlier, a senior PTI leader had said that the party chief would announce his “next course of action”.
PTI’s focal person for economy Hammad Azhar said the party would stage a “huge” demonstration outside the Punjab Governor House at 5 pm to register its protest.
The political situation in the province has been tense for the past few days, ahead of the no-confidence vote against Chief Minister Pervez Elahi and the possible dissolution of the Punjab Assembly.
On Wednesday, Governor Punjab Balighur Rehman termed the order of Punjab Assembly Speaker Sabtain Khan as unconstitutional and illegal. The latter had defied the directive to convene a meeting at 4 pm on Wednesday for the vote of trust on Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi.
Sabatin Khan declared this order against the constitution and adjourned the ongoing session till Friday.
PML-Q MPs supported Chief Minister Elahi.
In the light of the no-confidence vote, the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid-e-Azam (PML-Q) votes are crucial and the opposition was eyeing their support through PML-Q chief Chaudhary Shujaat.
However, a statement issued by the Muslim League (Q) said that the party’s legislators have assured their full support for the incumbent Chief Minister Elahi.
The party statement said that in the meeting presided over by the Chief Minister and Muslim League (Q) parliamentary leader Sajid Bhatti, the members gave full authority to the Chief Minister of Punjab for all decisions and vowed to remain united under his leadership.
If a no-confidence motion is presented in the provincial assembly, the members agreed to vote in favor of the chief minister, speaker and deputy speaker.
In this regard, while addressing the press conference along with Azhar, PTI Senior Vice President Fawad Chaudhry also said that all MPs of Muslim League Q have supported Chief Minister Elahi, Speaker and Deputy Speaker.
“We have the numbers,” Chaudhry said, noting that the combined membership of the PTI and PML-Q is 187.
A letter was sent to remove the Governor.
Meanwhile, Punjab Minister for Environmental Protection and Parliamentary Affairs Mohammad Basharat Raja said that PA Speaker Sabatin has sent a letter to President Arif Alvi to remove the current governor.
The former law minister said that under Article 101(3), the President has the power to remove the Governor.
Basharat said that in the letter written for dismissal, the speaker has also complained about the behavior of the governor.
“They have also pointed out the unconstitutional steps of the governor and requested the president to ensure that the governor does not take any more unconstitutional steps”.
