LAHORE -Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf is considering the option of filing petitions in the courts for restoration of the Punjab and KPK assemblies in case the ongoing negotiations with the government to reach an agreement over a consensus date of elections don’t make any headway, it has been reliably learnt.
As some news channels also reported on the likelihood of such a development, the PTI’s Senior Vice-president Fawad Chaudhry vehemently denied any such proposal under consideration saying there was no law under which the assemblies could be restored. Sources close to Speaker Punjab Assembly Mohammad Sibtain Khan, however, did not rule out the possibility of such a move if there existed a deadlock over the election date and there seemed no chance of elections to the two assemblies within the prescribed time frame.
The assembly sources also confirmed that two separate petitions might be filed in the Lahore High Court and the Peshawar High Court either by the chief ministers or the assembly speakers seeking restoration of the two assemblies on the plea that the caretaker governments had completed their stipulated tenure of 90 days and that the elections to the two legislatures were not in sight.
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A statement issued by the Punjab Assembly Speaker Mohammad Sibtain Khan on Friday also hinted at the probability of the PTI adopting such a legal course at some later stage when the situation about the election date gets clear.
“We will decide about a future course of action after the outcome of Supreme Court sponsored negotiations between the government and the opposition”, he said, adding that there was no justification for continuation of the caretaker government under the Constitution after the lapse of 90 days.
“The caretaker government has lost its constitutional legitimacy after the expiry of the 90 days constitutional mandate”, he said.
Commenting on reports that the PTI was mulling restoration of the assemblies, senior PTI leader Fawad Chaudhry said there was no law under which the assemblies could be restored. “It should be ascertained first as to under which law the assemblies can be restored”, he maintained in a tweet. He also complained that media persons should investigate and check the facts before reporting on such matters.
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