World News | Pak President Alvi's Stonewalling of New Parliament Session Justified: Imran Khan
Get latest articles and stories on World at LatestLY. Jailed former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan on Tuesday said President Dr Arif Alvi's decision to not summon the newly-elected National Assembly for its first session was justified since his party's mandate in the elections was stolen.
Islamabad, Feb 27 (PTI) Jailed former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan on Tuesday said President Dr Arif Alvi's decision to not summon the newly-elected National Assembly for its first session was justified since his party's mandate in the elections was stolen.
The president on Monday rejected the summary from the caretaker parliamentary affairs ministry to summon the first session of the newly elected National Assembly session on February 29 and maintained that all reserved seats be allocated before the summoning of the session in which newly-elected members of the National Assembly will take oath.
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After the president's denial, National Assembly outgoing Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf decided to convene the session of the lower house of parliament on February 29.
According to constitutional provisions, the meeting of the National Assembly must be convened within 21 days of the elections, and February 29 is the mandated date under Article 91.
Alvi, inclined towards the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, was a senior member of jailed former prime minister Imran Khan's party before the cricketer-turned-politician made him the country's President in 2018.
In a conversation with journalists at the Adiala jail in Rawalpindi, the PTI party founder said his party won the February 8 general elections but it was being denied its due share of the reserved seats.
“There is no greater theft than stealing the public's mandate..," he said.
"May 9 was used to end the party. The party did not end due to oppression but became the strongest party," said 71-year-old Khan.
Speaking about the letter he plans to write to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the cricketer-turned-politician said it was being termed a "treason".
"I can't write anything from the jail. I have dictated the letter for the IMF," he said, lamenting about not being able to meet party leaders ever since.
"A letter will be sent to the IMF after consultation with the party leaders today."
Khan says he will write to the Washington-based global lender not to provide additional loans to cash-strapped Pakistan unless the IMF holds an audit of the February 8 general elections.
Meanwhile, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) top leader Senator Ishaq Dar said President Alvi was “once again” trying to violate the Constitution by refusing to summon the NA session.
“The Constitution is clear: the National Assembly session should be summoned within 21 days of the elections. The president could have called the session on February 26, 27, and 28,” he said.
Khan's party on Tuesday said that no provincial assembly session could be called without notifying the reserved seats, a day after the assemblies of Punjab and Sindh were summoned and the chief ministers were sworn in.
“The Punjab [Assembly] session was carried out in an illegal manner. The Sindh Assembly session was carried out illegally. If the National Assembly session is called, that will also be illegal because the assemblies should be convened after all the members of the House are notified,” Barrister Gohar Khan said.
He urged the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to notify the reserved seats for the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC), with which his party has entered a formal agreement.
Khan's party could not directly participate in the general elections due to the non-allotment of its iconic electoral symbol - the cricket bat. To receive the party's share of reserved seats, candidates of the PTI - who fought as independents and won the elections - formally joined the SIC.
The SIC is an alliance of Islamic political and religious parties in the Muslim-majority country, representing followers of the school of Sunni Islam.
Though independents backed by the PTI won majority seats at the National Assembly in the election, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) have agreed on a power-sharing deal to form a new coalition government, which may effectively end Khan's chances of returning to power.
Khan's party has rejected the attempts by the PML-N and the PPP to form a coalition government, warning that robbing its public endorsement by the "mandate thieves" will result in the worst political instability.
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)