ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf told the National Assembly on Monday that it never expected that the government would be wrapped up as a result of the report of poll inquiry commission.
It was the first time for a senior PTI leader to admit that his party knew that the commission would not invalidate the results of 2013 general elections.
Know more: Judicial commission verdict is against ECP, says Imran Khan
PTI’s deputy parliamentary leader in the National Assembly Shah Mehmood Qureshi said: “Let me say on oath that PTI’s only objective behind the setting up of the judicial commission was to highlight chronic operational flaws of the Election Commission of Pakistan, and not to derail democracy.”
He was responding to objections raised by Finance Minister Ishaq Dar about PTI’s failure to accept the findings of the commission in its entirety.
Opening the debate, Leader of the Opposition Syed Khursheed Shah welcomed the fact that both the PTI and PML-N had accepted the commission’s findings.
“It’s heartening to note that both sides have accepted the commission’s report, but as leader of the opposition I suggest the report must be laid before the house for a detailed discussion and its maximum utilisation for future elections.”
Mr Dar accepted Mr Shah’s proposal before recalling the unusual circumstances which led to formation of the commission and how the PTI was not fully abiding by the memorandum of understanding it had reached with the government.
“I really felt regretful when the other day I saw PTI leaders Mr Qureshi and Jahangir Tareen, who themselves were the signatory of MoU, sitting on left and right of party chairman Imran Khan when at a press conference he insisted on his suspicions about the legality of general elections.”
Mr Dar said that it was written in the MoU that in case the judicial commission declared the 2013 general elections as free and fair, all PTI allegations would stand withdrawn.
He asked the PTI leadership to bury the hatchet, herald a new beginning and work for a better tomorrow.
Mr Qureshi, in a passionate speech, defended the PTI’s reaction to the commission’s report. “My leadership’s reaction was very natural because many in the PML-N distributed sweets after the report was made public. Yes, the report was against our expectations, but we accepted it and that’s why I am here and not protesting on roads.”
He said that finger-pointing should now be avoided and all sides should work together for an ECP whose performance would not be questioned by anyone in future.
Mr Qureshi said the report highlighted many gray areas, particularly about the ECP, which needed serious attention. “With the committee on electoral reforms in place, we can use the commission’s findings for a fully functional ECP.”
Later, the MQM and PTI engaged in a war of words when the former demanded formation of a commission to investigate sources of funding of the Islamabad dharna.
Referring to accusations of the Punjab chief minister and other PML-N leaders that PTI’s movement was financed by ill-gotten money, Dr Farooq Sattar asked the speaker to either form a parliamentary commission or the government should constitute another judicial commission to unearth how the PTIs’ protest movement had been funded.
This irritated Dr Arif Alvi of the PTI who said his party would accept such a commission but added that he would also like to know about the MQM receiving money from Indian intelligence agency RAW and the party’s alleged involvement in target-killings. “All these issues need to be investigated at the level of commissions.”
Earlier, Dr Sattar described the Rangers’ operation against his party as illegal and MQM legislators walked out of the house.
The house later adopted a bill for setting up the National University of Medical Sciences.
Published in Dawn, July 28th, 2015
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