LAHORE: After deferring its decision to resign from assemblies, the PML-N has now declared that it is not in the favour of an in-house change as proposed by another party in the opposition’s 11-member alliance.

“An in-house change can be a proposal by any other opposition party, but we are not in its favour as it is not a viable option. To do that, we will have to resort to horse trading, which we are against. In the Senate chairman election, we saw how 64 votes (of the opposition) were reduced to 52… this game will have to be played again for an in-house change,” PML-N Secretary General Ahsan Iqbal told reporters here on Monday.

The PPP had reportedly proposed an in-house change during a Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) meeting in Lahore over a week ago, but the alliance could not reach a consensus on the proposal.

On Saturday, the PML-N had announced it would take part in the Senate polls and any option to resign from National and provincial assemblies would be weighed after that.

Ex-interior minister says Opp lawmakers to resign at right time

Mr Iqbal further said the viable option for the opposition was to resign from assemblies at the right moment. “When the iron is hot, the opposition needs to be united and resign from assemblies. When 400 resignations are submitted, the whole system will collapse,” he said optimistically.

Replying to a question, he said there were no differences among the PDM parties. “The PDM is strong and struggling for the rule of law and constitution. This game being played for the last 72 years will end now,” he stressed.

Iqbal said the foreign funding case had been pending against the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) for the last six years.

“If this case is decided on merit (by the Election Commission of Pakistan) the PTI will be banned and Prime Minister Imran Khan disqualified,” he remarked.

The former interior minister said when the PTI government would be sent home, many scandals will come to the fore that will not leave Imran Khan and his cronies any place to hide. “Massive corruption is taking place in this government,” he alleged.

Published in Dawn, January 12th, 2021