Fawad Chaudhry says Final decision expected today in PTI parliamentary party meeting

Khayam Abbasi

ISLAMABAD: Following the removal of former prime minister Imran Khan from power through a no-confidence motion, senior PTI leader and former minister for information and broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry announced Sunday that his party members would resign from the National Assembly today (Monday) if the nomination of PML-N President Shahbaz Sharif is accepted. 

Speaking to journalists on Sunday alongside former energy minister Hammad Azhar and former state minister for information Farrukh Habib, Fawad said that PTI chief Imran Khan chaired a meeting of the party’s core committee in Bani Gala where he reiterated that his ouster was part of a regime-change operation back by foreign powers.

“When decisions related to a country’s internal affairs are made from outside, it’s the biggest sign of its slavery.”

The ex-information minister said that his party had sent all declassified documents to the speaker of the NA as well as the chief justice of Pakistan.

He said that the PTI has nominated former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi as the candidate for the prime minister’s slot. 

“We have chosen Qureshi for the prime minister’s slot because firstly, we want to challenge Shahbaz Sharif’s nomination because he has a corruption case of Rs16 billion registered against him.”

He expressed his regret and said it would be unfortunate to impose a “foreign, selected, and imported government and on top of that, make Shahbaz Sharif the head of the government.

He informed journalists that during the meeting, the party’s core committee said that all PTI members should resign from the assemblies.

“We will start off by resigning from the National Assembly,” he said. “And if Shahbaz Sharif’s nomination papers are accepted, then we will tender our resignations tomorrow.”

Shortly afterwards, however, the NA Secretariat rejected PTI’s objections and went ahead to accept Shahbaz’s nomination. 

He further said that a parliamentary party meeting has also been called tonight, adding that most of the PTI members from the assemblies have already submitted their resignation to the party chairman. 

Fawad said that all PTI supporters will continue their protests against the alleged foreign conspiracy against Imran Khan.

He went on to say that within the next few months, the party will start gearing up for the elections.