LAHORE: President Arif Alvi on Wednesday met Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan amid the ongoing political crisis in Pakistan’s largest province, Punjab.
Uncertainty continues between the provincial government and the opposition over the motion of no confidence and trust vote against Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervez Elahi.
The PTI and the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) are confident of having the numbers to ensure his retention as Punjab chief minister, while the opposition claims it could upset the ruling coalition. can
As the political tension persisted, President Alvi met with the former Prime Minister in which he met with Finance Minister and Revenue Senator Ishaq Dar and other federal ministers.
The two leaders also discussed the decisions taken by the PTI senior leadership and the party’s ally Muslim League (Q) in today’s meeting.
Punjab Minister for Environmental Protection and Parliamentary Affairs Mohammad Basharat Raja said that meanwhile, Punjab Assembly Speaker Sabtain Khan has sent a letter to President 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”.
Order to remove the Chief Minister
The political situation is tense as Governor Balighur Rehman – who belongs to the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) – called a meeting today for a vote of confidence on Chief Minister Punjab Pervez Elahi.
But defying these instructions, the Speaker – a PTI member – declared the order unconstitutional and adjourned the ongoing session till Friday.
Responding to the Speaker, the governor said his order had no bearing on his order.
Home Minister Rana Sanaullah had earlier threatened that the Governor of Punjab would issue a proclamation to remove the Chief Minister from office at 4 pm, but this did not materialise.
But later, he said that under Article 130(7) of the Constitution, the Governor – once he considers that the Chief Minister has the confidence of the House – can take him. can say for Calling for vote of confidence and special meeting.
“And if the chief minister avoids taking a vote of confidence – a situation that happened today – then the position of the constitution is clear: he will no longer be the chief minister.”
Sanaullah said in his opinion that since Chief Minister Elahi did not take the vote of confidence in the meeting called today but it was not because of the Speaker, he is no longer the Chief Minister.
The home minister also said it was the governor’s discretion as he could issue orders to remove the chief minister “at 4:10 p.m., later today and tomorrow morning.”
Imran’s next move
PTI Chairman Imran is set to announce his next course of action in a “major” address tomorrow (Thursday), a senior party leader said.
At a press conference in Lahore on Wednesday, PTI’s focal person for economics Hamad Azhar said the party would hold a “huge” demonstration outside the Punjab Governor House at 5 pm to register its protest.
In light of the vote of trust or no-confidence, the PML-Q votes are crucial and the opposition was eyeing their support through PML-Q chief Chaudhry Shujaat.
However, a statement issued by the Muslim League (Q) said that the party’s legislators have assured the incumbent chief minister of their full support.
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.
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.
