Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry has said that the decision to summon a National Assembly (NA) session would be taken by NA Speaker Asad Qaiser and not Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan.
The minister while speaking with Dawn News said that the possible action against what he termed ‘Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) turncoats’, would be that, “PM Khan has decided to de-seat them before voting on the no-trust motion.”
The minister’s comments came after around 24 members of the PTI were reportedly found to be staying at the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) run Sindh House.
After the news became public on Thursday, PM Khan called a meeting attended by Attorney General of Pakistan Khalid Javed Khan and the NA Speaker.
The premier directed Qaiser to commence the sitting of the lower house on March 21 and take action against “PTI’s possible turncoats”.
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) said that it is empowered to take action only after receiving a declaration from the NA speaker about the members voting against party policy or crossing the floor.
In a joint press conference with the information minister and Energy Minister Hammad Azhar, PTI Secretary General Asad Umar said that PM Khan could also throw money at Opposition lawmakers, but would not do so because he does not stand for the “politics of blackmailing and bribery”.
“Imran Khan is in politics not for himself, but for the nation,” he added. He also claimed some opposition MNAs were also in close contact with the government.
“We want to make it clear that we will not do any deals and will not disburse ministries to stay in power. We will remain engaged with our allies but there will be no wheeling and dealing,” said Azhar.
