PESHAWAR: As the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) faces a split in the province, the opposition in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly says it has adopted the wait and see policy on it.
Awami National Party MPA Syed Jafar Shah told Dawn on Friday that the opposition parties were closely observing the situation arising after 14 lawmakers of PTI revolted against Chief Minister Pervez Khattak and his cabinet members.
“For the time being, the opposition has adopted wait and see policy, and can ask the Chief Minister Pervez Khattak to prove majority in the House any time,” said Jafar Shah, who had already predicted turmoil within the ruling coalition.
Under Article 130 of the Constitution, the governor of a province is empowered to ask the chief minister to obtain a vote of confidence from the assembly if the former is satisfied that the latter does not enjoy confidence of the majority of the members.
Fourteen disgruntled PTI MPAs, who have formed a forward bloc in the assembly, submitted their resignations to Deputy Speaker Imtiaz Shahid before leaving for Islamabad to meet PTI chief Imran Khan on Friday.
Imtiaz Shahid, who has also joined the bloc, told Dawn that he had received resignations of 13 lawmakers of the party.
He said dissident MPAs would hold candid discussion with the party chairman and would apprise him about the situation on the ground in the province.
The MPAs, who have handed over resignations, include Qurban Ali Khan, Javed Nasim, Arbab Jehandad Khan, Mahmood Khan, Idrees Khan, Gul Sahib Khattak, Shah Mahmood, Shah Faisal, Ziaullah Bangash, Dr Amjad, Azizullah, Zahid Durrani and Sardar Mohammad Idrees.The disgruntled MPAs have accused the provincial government and party leaders of nepotism, incompetence and involvement in irregularities.
They complain that key departments including health have either been given to the PTI coalition partners or incompetent persons and that the government had abandoned the PTI manifesto maintaining status quo.
The combined opposition comprising Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl, Qaumi Watan Party, Awami National Party and Pakistan People’s Party had submitted a requisition on Thursday for convening the assembly session.
This is the second requisition submitted by the opposition during last two months. The opposition has 54 members in the 124-member House.
Syed Jafar Shah said 40 MPAs of the opposition had signed the requisition.
An 11-point agenda has also been submitted to the assembly secretariat including a debate on the ongoing peace talks between the government and Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan, delay in execution of development projects, law and order situation and other issues.
The activities of the disgruntled MPAs have also raised several legal questions including whether their acts amount to defection under the Constitution.
Legal experts believe Article 63-A of the Constitution dealing with defection of a member could only be applied if a member resigns from his party and join any other party; or he votes or abstain from voting in the assembly contrary to the directions of his parliamentary party during election of the chief minister, a vote of confidence or vote of no-confidence or during a money bill.
In such situation, the head of a political party is empowered to declare that the said member has defected before sending a declaration to the Election Commission of Pakistan against him/her through speaker of the assembly.