ISLAMABAD: The Pakis­tan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) has decided to file a reference with the speaker of the National Assembly for the de-seating of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif as a member of the assembly.

The decision was made on Friday during a meeting of the party leadership held at the Bani Gala residence of PTI chairman Imran Khan.

The ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz has already submitted a similar reference with the speaker against Mr Khan.

Quoting Articles 62 and 63 of the Constitution, both parties have accused each others’ top leadership of hiding their assets, insisting that they have thus lost the eligibility for the membership of parliament. The two articles deal with the qualification and disqualification of members of parliament.

Knowing full well that Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq may not treat the PTI reference in the same was as he may treat the reference against Mr Khan, it is a moot point what made the PTI leadership use this option.

For Naeemul Haq, the chief spokesperson for the PTI, it will be a test case to check the impartiality of the speaker. He said since the references of both the PML-N and the PTI were now before the speaker, it would be for everyone to see how Mr Sadiq treated the two parties.

In its reference, the PML-N had appended documents regarding Mr Khan’s offshore company which he set up to sell his flat in London, and had also raised questions about him receiving a gift from his ex-wife to buy the Bana Gala property.

The PTI is pinning its hope on the Panama papers which revealed that two sons and a daughter of the prime minister owned offshore companies. Likewise, purchase doc­u­ments of the Sharifs’ properties in London will also be made part of the reference.

According to a press statement issued by the PTI, Friday’s meeting of PTI leaders criticised the government for its lack of concentration on the implementation of the National Action Plan (NAP), which they argued was one of the causes of Monday’s Quetta attack. Had the government fulfilled its responsibility in the implementation of NAP, the suicide bombing in Quetta could have been avoided, it added.

It said that following the clearance of areas as result of military operations, the government failed to fulfil its responsibility.

The PTI has also suggested setting up of a parliamentary committee for continuous monitoring of NAP. Had there been regular input from parliament and the opposition, NAP would have been a success story, says the statement.

The PTI meeting endorsed decisions so far taken by the joint opposition on the issue of Terms of Reference for an investigation into the leaked Panama papers. It reiterated that until the government agreed to the opposition’s ToR, there would be no more talks with it. To put pressure on the government, the PTI meeting decided to table resolutions in provincial assemblies where opposition parties hold majority to constitute a Panama Commission.

At the national level, the PTI will present an accountability commission bill in the National Assembly.

The meeting criticised the government for what it called creating hurdles for the PTI’s procession from Rawalpindi to Islamabad on Aug 13. In the statement, the PTI clai­med that the Khyber Pakhtun­khwa government had provided help to the PML-N for its recent rally in Peshawar.

Published in Dawn, August 13th, 2016