Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf to initiate legal proceedings against dissident lawmakers

Islamabad: Pakistan’s ruling party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has announced to initiate legal proceedings against the dissident lawmakers from Prime Minister Imran Khan’s party ahead of the no-confidence motion.

Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry said that legal action would be taken against the turncoat members of the National Assembly (MNAs) under Article 63-A of the Constitution which is related to disqualification of parliamentarians on grounds of defection.

On Friday, the minister said that the government would file a reference in the Supreme Court, asking it to interpret Article 63-A. “The Supreme Court will be consulted asked about the legal status of the vote of party members who are clearly involved in horse-trading and change their loyalties in exchange for money,” the minister said.

Shifting loyalties of some PTI lawmakers and little support from coalition partners indicate a looming threat to the government of Prime Minister Imran Khan who is set to face the no-confidence vote next week.

“We have differences with the prime minister,” Raja Riaz, one of PTI lawmakers, told local media. “We will vote according to our conscience,” he said, indicating that some of the PTI lawmakers would go against their party in the upcoming no-trust move.

The dissident MNAs reportedly include Raja Riaz and Nawab Sher Waseer from Faisalabad, Noor Alam Khan from Peshawar, minority representative Dr Ramesh Kumar, Wajiha Qamar and Nuzhat Pathan.

Most of them joined the PTI just before the 2018 elections. Several of these lawmakers reportedly withdrew their support as they were found to be staying at the Sindh House of the opposition Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) in Islamabad.

PTI leaders have claimed that their parliamentarians had been offered Rs160 million to Rs200 million by the opposition to change their loyalty and vote against the prime minister. However, the dissidents have refuted the allegations

At a press conference in Islamabad, Information Minister Chaudhry said that PTI “will not get into any blackmailing to save our government” and that they “reject the culture of turncoats.”

He stated that PM Imran Khan does not stand for “politics of blackmailing and bribery”. Minister Asad Umar said that “PTI will fight till the end and will not do anything illegal.”

The PTI ministers said that Imran Khan has taken a stand against the “system of horse-trading, bribery, and auctions.”

Imran Khan’s party, which has 155 seats in National Assembly, needs the support of coalition parties to achieve a simple majority of 172 of the total 342 members and survive the no-confidence vote.