ISLAMABAD/ PESHAWAR/LAHORE: Political forces have started contacting like-minded parties and parliamentarians for bringing a no-confidence motion in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Assembly and changing the government in the province.
The ruling coalition in the Centre claims support of 53 MPAs in KP Assembly and it would need 20 more members to make the no-confidence move successful and change the provincial government, according to sources. However, the Awami National Party (ANP) has refused to side with the ruling coalition to bring about a no-confidence through horse-trading.
KP Governor Faisal Karim Kundi said on Thursday: “The day we will have just one more member in the assembly, we can bring a no-confidence motion.” Talking to Geo News, the governor said the opposition has 52 or 54 members in the KP Assembly. “The day we have even one more member in the assembly, it is our democratic right to bring a no-confidence motion,” he added.
The war of words between Faisal Kundi and KP Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur Thursday intensified, with the former warning of bringing the no-confidence motion against the latter, while the latter mocking the threat. “We are not plotting against Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s chief minister,” Kundi said. However, he noted: “The day we have even one more member in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Assembly, it will be our democratic right to move a no-confidence motion.”
Kundi, a senior leader of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), an ally of the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PMLN), claimed that the PTI workers would soon celebrate a ‘Thanksgiving Day’. At the same time, he said sarcastically, that he did not want Gandapur to become “jobless and leave politics”.
The chief minister, on the other hand, took a jibe at the governor over his statement about toppling the provincial government. “The governor cannot even win a councillor’s seat. How will he topple our government?” Gandapur said, mocking the governor. “We’ve changed his name from Vela Munda (idle boy) to Chapata (weightless person),” Gandapur said sarcastically while talking to the media after appearing before the Peshawar High Court (PHC).
A day earlier in Islamabad, Gandapur had declared that his government could not be removed through any constitutional means. The confrontation between the chief minister and governor intensified after the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), in line with the Supreme Court’s orders, reinstated reserved seats that were previously awarded to the PMLN, PPP, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUIF) and Awami National Party (ANP), leaving the PTI deprived of them and strengthening the opposition in the KP Assembly.
The KP Assembly currently has 93 PTI-backed MPAs who were elected as independents. In contrast, the opposition’s strength has increased from 27 to over 50 after being allotted the reserved seats. Twenty-one reserved seats for women were reinstated in the KP Assembly, with eight allocated to JUIF, six to PMLN, and five to PPP. One seat each was allotted to the PTI Parliamentarians and ANP.
Meanwhile, four reserved seats for minorities were restored, with two going to the JUIF and one each to PMLN and PPP. Despite holding a strong position in the assembly, the JUIF has stated that it will not become a part of any movement seeking to oust the incumbent provincial government.
A recent meeting between KP Governor Kundi and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif triggered speculation that the Centre might be planning to remove Gandapur. However, senior PMLN leader Senator Irfan Siddiqui denied any such motion under review. Speaking on Geo News programme, he said no proposal related to no-confidence in KP Assembly was under discussion at any high level. He said it was not right to describe the meeting of KP governor with the prime minister as a conspiracy. No-confidence is a constitutional and legal thing, the founder of PTI himself is aware of it, he added. Irfan Siddiqui said protest is the constitutional and democratic right of every political party including PTI; however, the government will take action if chaos is spread under the guise of protest.
Meanwhile, terming the reserved seats verdict a violation of the public mandate, ANP President Aimal Wali Khan said that his party would always oppose the practice of horse-trading.
In a statement, Aimal alleged that parliament was being weakened by non-transparent decisions and the democratic system was being deliberately damaged. He criticised that CM Gandapur’s recent statements were an attempt to divert public attention from the government’s poor performance.
The ANP chief claimed that those who appointed Gandapur as chief minister still appear satisfied with his performance. Powerful quarters were not in favour of toppling the provincial government, he added. About the recent drowning of 17 tourists in the flooded Swat River, he said a high-level committee had been formed to probe the tragedy. He assured that anyone found guilty of negligence in the incident would not escape punishment.
Gandapur said an operation was underway against encroachments along the Swat River and that no one, regardless of status or influence, would be spared. “Illegal constructions will be demolished, no matter who owns them,” he said.
Earlier, the PHC extended the chief minister’s protective bail until September and directed authorities not to arrest him in any case registered against him during this period. The hearing was conducted by a two-member bench comprising Justice Sahibzada Asadullah and Justice Farah Jamshed.
Separately, Punjab Assembly Speaker Malik Ahmed Khan filed a reference with the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), seeking disqualification of 26 lawmakers of the opposition’s Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC). He visited the Election Commission Secretariat, and met the chief election commissioner (CEC), where the reference was already filed against the opposition members for allegedly creating pandemonium and vandalism during the session on June 27.
“I came here to seek legal advice,” he added. The membership of 26 opposition members in the Punjab Assembly was suspended by the Punjab Assembly speaker, after which on June 28, he announced sending a reference to the ECP for disqualification of 26 opposition members.
According to the reference, the speaker also issued a report for violation of the code of conduct against 26 members, which states that action has been taken for creating ruckus, misbehaviour and ignoring the speaker’s ruling. The MPAs, he prayed, violated the Assembly Rules and deliberately disrupted the proceedings and caused the Assembly proceedings to be suspended by making noise. The reference has been filed by the speaker by using his authority under the Rules of Procedure 1997.
A list has also been submitted along with the request to disqualify the 26 members who created disorder in the Punjab Assembly. They are Muhammad Tanvir Aslam, Malik Farhad Masood, Syed Riffat Mehmood, Yasir Mehmood Qureshi, Kaleemullah Khan, Muhammad Ansar Iqbal, Ali Asif, Zulfiqar Ali, Ahmad Mujtaba Chaudhry, Shahid Javed, Khayal Ahmad, Muhammad Ismael, Shahbaz Ahmad, Tayyab Rashid, Imtiaz Mehmood, Ali Imtiaz, Rashid Tufail, Muhammad Murtaza Iqbal, Khalid Zubair Nisar, Ch Muhammad Ejaz Shafi, Saima Kanwal, Muhammad Naeem, Sajjad Ahmed, Aurangzaib, Usama Asghar Ali Gujjar and Shoaib Ameer.
Talking to the media, the speaker said a disqualification reference had already been filed against 26 members who created a ruckus in the Punjab Assembly. He made it clear that even if there were 35 instead of 26 who broke the Constitution, he would do the same as the Constitution will always prevail.
Malik Ahmad Khan said Article 63 of the Constitution clearly outlined the qualifications and disqualifications of public representatives. He said that adherence to the Constitution was a sacred duty of every member of the assembly, which they solemnly affirm at the time of taking oath. “Every member, at the time of taking oath, pledges to uphold the Constitution and that this oath holds a status even more sacred and significant than any individual clause or article of the Constitution,” said the speaker in a statement.
In a related development, the PTI decided to send a reference against four MNAs who, despite winning seats with PTI’s backing, have joined the PMLN. According to PTI leader Asad Qaiser, the party has finalised its plan to take action against these members for deviating from party policy during the vote on the 26th Constitutional Amendment. The reference will be sent to the Speaker of the National Assembly and Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).
The said four MNAs are Chaudhry Usman Ali, Mubarak Zeb, Aurangzeb Khichi and Zahoor Qureshi. “These members won their seats on PTI tickets and have now joined PMLN. We have asked the party to send a disqualification reference to the speaker and ECP. Let’s see what action they take,” said Qaiser.
