ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) has deci­ded to stick to its decision to boycott Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s upcoming address to a joint session of parliament.

Talking to reporters after presiding over an emergency meeting of the party’s parliamentary group at his Banigala residence on Tuesday, PTI chairman Imran Khan said that in the light of the Turkish ambassador’s request the party had reviewed its decision, but it had come to the conclusion that it would stay away from the joint sitting of parliament on Thursday (tomorrow).

During a meeting on Monday with a three-member PTI delegation led by the party’s vice-chairman, Shah Mehmood Qur­eshi, Turkish Ambassador Sadik Babur Girgin had requested the party to reconsider its boycott decision. Agreeing to the request, Mr Khan had convened the emergency meeting of the party’s parliamentarians.

“We seriously considered the request of the Turkish ambassador. But we came to the conclusion that we cannot end this boycott,” he declared.

Wants SC bench to itself decide Panama Papers case

The PTI chairman, however, made it clear that the party welcomed the Turkish president’s visit and considered the people of Turkey as Pakistan’s best friends. “The people (of Pakis­tan) love the Turkish people even more than the Chinese,” he added.

“We respect the Turkish ambassador’s request. We welcome the Turkish president. We respect the sentiments of the people of Turkey. But we believe that under the prevailing circumstances in Pakistan, [we] cannot endorse a prime minister facing corruption charges and who had broken the country’s laws through use of violence,” he said while referring to the government’s actions against the party’s workers ahead of the party’s proposed “Lockdown Islamabad” plan on Nov 2.

The meeting between the Tur­kish envoy and the party leaders had taken place on PTI’s request as the party wanted to seek a separate meeting of Mr Khan with the visiting Turkish president.

Mr Khan evaded a direct question about the possibility of his separate meeting with Mr Erdogan. “This is a secondary issue,” Mr Khan said in response to the question, strengthening reports that the Turkish ambassador had not made any commitment in this regard.

Flanked by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Pervez Khattak, Mr Qureshi and other party leaders, Mr Khan described two reasons for his party’s boycott decision, saying it did not want to “endorse” a prime minister facing corruption charges and the “dictatorial actions” of the government against the PTI workers who were holding peaceful protests.

Mr Khan said the Panama Papers contained “proof” of corruption, and not mere “allegations” against the prime minister. He said Mr Sharif had once advised former prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani to resign from the office and come to the parliament after getting his name cleared from the courts. “Now Nawaz Sharif should do exactly the same,” he said.

Talking about proceedings in the Supreme Court in the Panama Papers case, the PTI chief criticised the government for allegedly changing its position on the matter.

He said that everyone wanted the SC bench to decide the case on its own instead of forming an inquiry commission as this would further delay the matter.

Sources told Dawn that of the 42 PTI members of the National Assembly and the Senate, the meeting was attended by about 24 party parliamentarians.

They said some participants were of the view that the party should attend the joint sitting of parliament, saying the move was being criticised not only by the opponents, but also by the media and diplomatic circles.

However, the sources said that when Mr Khan said they should make a decision according to their conscience, the members did not press for reversal of the boycott decision.

Published in Dawn November 16th, 2016