By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: Lawmakers from Imran Khan’s party shouted at their own leaders and walked out of a seven-hour parliamentary meeting on Tuesday, leaving rival accounts of whether they had agreed to back a constitutional amendment in return for the release of the jailed former prime minister.
The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) parliamentary party met at Parliament House under its chairman, Barrister Gohar Ali Khan. Former National Assembly speaker Asad Qaiser, Senator Ali Zafar and chief whip Malik Amir Dogar were also present. The party is still reeling from 11 October, when the federal government imposed an emergency and governor’s rule in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on the president’s approval, ending its provincial government. Police took the chief minister, Sohail Afridi, assembly speaker Babar Saleem Swati and provincial party president Junaid Akbar into custody while Afridi was leading a protest march demanding Khan’s release.
An insider who asked not to be named said most of those present, Qaiser among them, rejected further efforts to negotiate with the establishment, the military-dominated power structure that PTI blames for Khan’s imprisonment. They argued it had already got what it wanted and that more talks would “only show weakness”. Around 15 lawmakers took the opposite view and favoured supporting the proposed 28th Amendment, arguing it could normalise relations with the establishment and open a path to Khan’s release.
Other accounts of the room point the other way. Local television Geo News, however, reported that most members wanted negotiations “in any case”, and that Noorul Haq Qadri drew applause from the whole room by saying “negotiations” three times in a row. A majority backed conditional support for the amendment, tied to Khan’s release, and a six-member steering committee would be formed under opposition leaders Mahmood Khan Achakzai and Allama Raja Nasir Abbas. Its remit would be access to Khan and his medical treatment, and it would also negotiate with the government.
The party has announced none of this. After the meeting, Dogar said decisions would follow consultation with the opposition leaders in both houses, who were absent owing to prior commitments, and that another meeting would be held. Zafar said committees headed by those leaders would be formed.
Much of the anger was aimed at the leadership. Several members questioned why so much authority had been given to Afridi, who, they said, holds no post in the party hierarchy. They accused Barrister Gohar and secretary general Salman Akram Raja of letting the party run under him. They also alleged that the leadership had left everything to the provincial government because of its interest in transfers, postings and financial matters. The insider said members felt morale had fallen since the government’s removal but that the party had not lost public support.
The meeting broke down repeatedly. Another participant said Qaiser tabled a pre-written declaration containing points never discussed, which annoyed several members. Faisal Amin Gandapur asked, “Is this a joke?” and left after an exchange with Barrister Gohar. Gandapur is the brother of former Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief minister Ali Amin Gandapur.
Mobeen Arif Jutt asked why the party was not speaking up for colleagues in jail or in hiding, saying he felt embarrassed when he spoke to them. He also alleged that Achakzai had called Punjab chief minister Maryam Nawaz when his son was arrested near Kharian, and stayed in Lahore until the son was freed. Azam Swati urged Barrister Gohar and his colleagues to step down. MNA Shah Ahad also criticised the leadership. Peshawar MNA Sher Ali said party figures were getting calls telling them to surrender to police or face raids on their homes.
Local television channels reported that Swati left after claiming Khan had given him authority to negotiate. Barrister Gohar rebuked him, saying he had asked Khan in jail and been told Swati had no such mandate. Barrister Gohar said Khan had told him full authority rests with Achakzai and Abbas.
Senator Mashail Yousafzai told the meeting she had no confidence in Afridi or the opposition leadership. She said Khan was ill, but Afridi was concentrating on a long march instead of negotiations. Qaiser replied that Khan had expressed confidence in Afridi, Achakzai and Abbas. Shafqat Awan accused her of making allegations against party colleagues at a time when they should be pressing the government. The senator had said days earlier that she and 25 other senators would vote for the amendment if Khan benefited from it.
A party statement said the meeting reaffirmed its commitment to Khan, his leadership and his vision for Pakistan. It called for urgent measures on inflation and economic revival. A resolution rejected the emergency and governor’s rule as assaults on provincial autonomy and demanded their withdrawal. It also demanded restoration of the elected government under Afridi and the release of Afridi, Swati and Akbar. It further demanded the release of Khan and his wife, Bushra Bibi, and an independent medical examination for him, with treatment at Shifa International Hospital. The resolution condemned terrorism and acknowledged the sacrifices of the armed forces, police and civilians.
Hours later, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s political adviser, Rana Sanaullah, said the government was in “off-the-record” contact with some PTI leaders. He declined to name them, saying disclosure could damage their credibility in the party. He said contact took place by telephone and in the corridors of the National Assembly and Senate, and could become formal talks once discussions took concrete shape.
Sanaullah blamed divisions within PTI for keeping the contacts informal. He said some who wanted the earlier talks to succeed had been trolled and pressured into silence. He said the first step should be a meeting between the prime minister and Achakzai, and dismissed the opposition leader’s reluctance to go to the Prime Minister’s House as having “no logic”. PTI should also return to the parliamentary committees it has boycotted, he said. But the party had so far given no sign, formally or informally, that it had changed course, he added.
The two sides have a history of failed talks. Negotiations between the government and PTI broke down after two rounds before the party’s march, and the party says access to Khan was the sticking point. Days before Tuesday’s meeting, PTI lawmakers in the provincial assembly had backed talks with the government and the establishment to restore their administration.
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