A day after Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Parvez Elahi signed the summary for the dissolution of the provincial assembly, matters are picking up steam in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where CM Mahmood Khan is expected to follow suit today (Saturday) by sending his own summary to Governor Haji Ghulam Ali, advising him to disband the provincial assembly.
The development was confirmed by PTI’s Senior Vice President Chaudhry Fawad, who said on Friday that the CM had prepared the summary. During an interaction with journalists, Fawad said that “money laundering” was the key reason behind the country’s economic crisis. “How can there be economic prosperity in the country when the finance minister is involved in money laundering,” he added.
Referring to a question, the PTI leader asked the Punjab governor not to wait for “48 hours”, and urged him to dissolve the assembly immediately so that the process for the formation of an interim set up be initiated. He hoped that a person who can hold impartial elections in the province would be named as a caretaker chief minister.
On the other hand, the opposition in the KP Assembly has also signaled its willingness to take the challenge on its chin and decided against tabling a no-trust motion against the chief minister to forestall the dissolution of the assembly.
Talking to reporters in Peshawar, PML-N deputy parliamentary leader and provincial spokesperson Ikhtiar Wali Khan claimed that the chief minister should stop requesting the opposition members to file a no-confidence motion against him to stop the dissolution of the legislature. “He (Mahmood Khan) should show courage and go ahead with it (dissolution of the provincial assembly),” he added.
The PML-N leader added that his party would expose the “corruption” committed by the PTI government in the province and prepare for the elections with the slogan of “accountability”. The PML-N leader was apparently referring to the impression that the KP chief minister was not ready to let go of power yet. According to Imran Khan’s announcement, the process for the dissolution of the KP Assembly would be initiated after it was completed in the provincial legislature of Punjab.
Meanwhile, Special Assistant to KP Chief Minister on Information Barrister Muhammad Ali Saif also announced that the summary would be sent to the governor for the dissolution of the provincial assembly today (Saturday). He added that after the dissolution of the KP Assembly, a letter would also be written to the leader of the opposition, Akram Khan Durrani, for the appointment of a caretaker chief minister.
On the other hand, the KP governor also indicated his willingness to enable the PTI’s plan by going by the constitutional procedure, saying that if he received the summary from the chief minister, he would decide on it in accordance with the constitution. However, the governor still stood by his stance that assemblies should not be dissolved.
