Political crisis in Pakistan dramatically escalated on Friday with lawmakers of opposition leader Imran Khan’s party resigning en masse from the National Assembly mounting more pressure on the embattled government.
As protestors continued their siege of Parliament demanding Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s ouster, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leaders Shah Mehmood Qureshi and Arif Alvi submitted to the National Assembly Speaker’s office the resignations of all 34 lawmakers belonging to the party, including that of its chief Mr. Khan.
However, the resignations do not affect the stability of the government which enjoys a majority with ruling PML-N having 190 members in a House of 342. Mr. Khan’s PTI is the third largest party in the National Assembly.
The anti-government protests in Pakistan are in their second week with thousands of supporters of PTI chairman Mr. Khan and firebrand cleric Tahirul Qadri camping outside the Parliament building in Islamabad. After one round of talks on Thursday both the protesting groups have suspended dialogue with the government.
Following the submission of resignations, the PTI leadership summoned a session of the party’s core committee to deliberate on future strategy regarding anti-government protests and resignations of its lawmakers from Provincial Assemblies.
In its core-committee meeting, PTI discussed the issue of resignation of its members in the Provincial Assemblies. It had earlier this week decided to resign from all Assemblies except Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, a Province where it leads the government.
“We had already given our resignations to our chairman, and now we have also completed the formal procedure of submitting them to the National Assembly Speaker,” PTI leader Murad Saeed was quoted by Dawn News as saying.
Mr. Qureshi, after submitting the resignations, said the 2013 general elections were not free and fair. He said the party would take guidance from the Constitution.
“We will hold sit-ins in the other major cities as well,” the PTI leader said.
Dialogue between protestors headed by Mr. Khan and Pakistan Awami Tehreek leader Mr. Qadri and the government broke down on Thursday, even as Mr. Sharif ruled out any crackdown on the siege of parliament.
The fragile dialogue between the government and protestors that had raised hopes of resolution of the political crisis made no headway on Thursday as Mr. Qadri refused to meet the government’s negotiating team while Mr. Khan suspended talks calling for Mr. Sharif’s resignation.
Mr. Khan and Mr. Qadri have both alleged rigging in the polls last year and called for a re-election.
Defence Minister Khawaja Asif on Friday expressed dismay over the current state of negotiations between the two sides. “The environment to negotiate has still not been established,” he said.
Mr. Asif dismissed calls for Mr. Sharif’s resignation, PTI’s first condition. “Issues that can be solved immediately should be addressed first,” he said.
