LAHORE – Pakistan’s Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman, Imran Khan, is vying for all 33 seats in the upcoming National Assembly by-elections scheduled for March 16.
PTI Vice Chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi said at a press conference on Sunday after the party’s core committee meeting in Lahore, Imran Khan will be the PTI’s candidate for all constituencies in the by-ballot.
Addicts Fellowship seats were vacant earlier this month when NA Speaker Raja Parvez Ashraf accepted the resignation of NA members.
In October last year, Imran Khan also set a national record by winning six seats from the Narcotics Anonymous Fellowship during the by-election. He defeated the candidates of the current ruling coalition of the parties of the People’s Democratic Movement, who received two seats.
The movement resigned on masse in April last year after Khan was ousted as prime minister, but only 11 were accepted in July.
Later, when the party tried to go home, the speaker began to accept their resignations – and within two days, he approved 113.
“The movement will remain on political ground and seek the help of the masses,” Qureshi said. When the people got a chance in July last year, despite having our opponents in the government, they secured our mandate and [made] Imran Khan victorious.”
“The nation will give a clear message on March 16: the nation fully trusts Imran Khan’s leadership and stands by the Equity and Reconciliation Movement. The people will also express their reservations about the group that has been imposed on us.”
Delay in KP & Punjab Election
During his media interview today, Qureshi talked about the delay in holding elections in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab. He said that the Basic Committee of PTI had issued a decision in this regard.
Reading the resolution, he said, “Delaying the start of elections under the guise of any reason would be tantamount to an attack on the Constitution, which would be subject to legal action under Article 6 (high treason) of the Constitution”.
Meanwhile, PTI also called on President Arif Alvi to “take immediate notice of the interference of intelligence agencies and other powerful forces in national political affairs”.
The party’s general secretary, Asaad Omar, read out another decision endorsed by the party’s core committee, saying, “The leadership of the movement wishes to direct the attention of the president and commander in chief of the armed forces to the statement of the party’s governor that the elections of the Communist Party” will determine the agencies and the institution of history.
He added, “PTI requests the President to take immediate notice of the increasing interference of intelligence services and other powerful forces in national political affairs.”
He also asked the President to pay attention to the “false cases against PTI workers and leaders, their kidnapping, judicial torture and threatening phone calls made to them on the directions of some black sheep in state institutions.”
Confirming that these actions negatively affected the reputation of state institutions, Omar asked the president to inquire about “the black sheep that PTI and the free media referred to.”
Arrest of PTI Leader Before Elections
The former minister, who condemned the arrest of party leader Fawad Chaudhry, urged Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandial to be alert to the “injustice” with a former federal minister.
“There is no precedent for three pre-trial detention in one case,” Qureshi said, adding that those who criticized Fawad Chaudhry in the past were also sympathetic to him.
It is worth noting here that a judicial judge on Saturday granted the police a two-day pre-trial detention to the leader of the Tehreek-e-Insaf, Fawad Chaudhry, who was arrested on charges of “threatening” members of the Pakistan Election Commission.
According to the details, Judge Waqas Ahmed Raja approved the police’s request to extend Fawad Chaudhry’s detention, and sent the former information minister to remand for two days.
