MULTAN: Veteran politician Javed Hashmi said Nov 7 was an important day in the country’s history as the forces that had created a (political) crisis in the country had failed in their designs.

In a press conference here on Friday, he said the army and its chief had played their role to save democracy but there were ‘certain forces’ that created problems.

“The (political) crisis in Pakistan is over after Nov 7; however, there is need to keep an eye on post-Nov 7 situation as this crisis could re-emerge in the future as well,” he said.

Hashmi said some people had tried to use the Supreme Court and army for their conspiracies and he (Hashmi) had also informed Imran Khan about it, adding that he had asked Khan to avoid such people as achieving the targets, set by the party, in their presence was impossible. To strengthen the political system and democracy, there was need to strengthen the political parties, including the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), he said.

Says political crisis over, army chief saved democracy

“We should strengthen the political parties and we have to help the PTI and its chief Imran Khan as the PTI should not be weakened for the sake of political system,” he said.

He said 21 to 25 PTI members of the National Assembly were not ready to resign.

“When I decided to resign, I was asked to make a forward block in the PTI but I believe that the PTI should not be done away with if we want to strengthen the system,” he said.

Mr Hashmi said he used to express his opinion honestly when he was in the PTI and always gave importance to the party’s interests over his personal interests.

“I gave suggestions to Imran Khan to boost the party and when the issue of resignations appeared I had told Imran Khan that more than 90pc parliamentarians would not resign from their seats and only Imran Khan and Hashmi would tender their resignations,” he said, adding that his view on resignations proved correct and PTI parliamentarians were not ready to verify their resignations before the speaker while three to four members had categorically declared that they would not resign.

He said the NA speaker should delay the matter until the PTI parliamentarians did not verify their resignations one by one.

Published in Dawn, November 8th , 2014