PESHAWAR: The Qaumi Watan Party will change its seating position in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly for the record fourth time and rejoin the opposition benches after its ouster from the coalition government led by Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf.

QWP’s expulsion from the coalition could result in storm in the assembly, especially for the chief minister amid differences within PTI, sources said.

After bagging 10 seats in the 2013 general elections the QWP joined the coalition government and the Speaker allotted seats to its members on the treasury side. When PTI expelled QWP from the coalition on corruption charges in November 2013 the party had approached the Speaker to give benches to its members on the opposition sides.

With its ouster from coalition the strength of joint opposition to grow from 44 to 54

QWP again said goodbye to the combined opposition when it was readjusted in the coalition government in Oct 2015. Now the party would again rejoin opposition following its unceremonious expulsion from the three-party coalition.

An official in the assembly secretariat told Dawn that there was no provision in the assembly procedure and conduct of business rules to formally ask the Speaker for allotment of benches in the house.

“But there are parliamentary traditions under which parliamentary leader of the party will request the Speaker for allotment of seats to his members,” said the official.

Under Section 7 of the Provincial Assembly of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Procedure and Conduct of Business Rules, 1988 the members shall sit in such order as the Speaker may determine.

With the removal of QWP from the coalition the strength of the combined opposition in KP Assembly would increase from 44 to 54 in the 124-member house. PTI has 59 MPAs, including one independent from Hangu. Jamaat-i-Islami, coalition partner of PTI, has seven members.

PTI had expelled MPAs Ziaullah Afridi and Amjad Khan Afridi from the party while the seat of Sardar Soran Singh, who was killed in Buner, has been lying vacant. PTI has already issued show cause notices to the two MPAs.

On the opposition side Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl has 16 MPAs, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz 17, Awami National Party five and Pakistan Peoples Party six MPAs.

Sources said that departure of QWP might not pose immediate threat to the government, but the ongoing rifts within PTI could put Chief Minister Pervez Khattak in hot water.

They said that the chief minister had developed serious differences with minister for elementary and secondary education Atif Khan and health minister Shahram Tarakai over allocation of funds for development schemes, appointments and other issues.

Speaker Asad Qaiser has started mediation to resolve differences between Mr Khattak and the two ministers, but failed. The matter has been referred to PTI chief Imran Khan.

“The ongoing differences within PTI can create trouble for Pervez Khattak and it can lead to an in-house change,” said a PTI MPA on the condition of anonymity. He claimed that Mr Khattak was not on board when the party leadership decided to expel QWP from the coalition government.

“Instead of the chief minister, the information minister Shah Farman received directives from Bani Gala to announce expulsion of QWP from the coalition,” he said, adding that Mr Khattak was supposed to make announcement because he had signed the agreement with Aftab Sherpao’s party.

Senior minister Sikandar Sherpao was attending a function along with Pervez Khattak at the Chief Minister’s House when Mr Farman made the announcement about expulsion of QWP in Islamabad on Saturday. Sources said that Mr Farman had discussed the issue of expulsion of QWP from the government with his colleagues about three weeks ago.

Published in Dawn, July 31st, 2017