Islamabad
Former speaker of the National Assembly and leader of Tehreek-e-Insaf Asad Qaiser says that extension in Army chief tenure is a wrong precedent adding that parliament should revoke this legislation as institution is important not the person.
In an interview with VOA’s Ali Furqan former speaker termed the decision of extension given to former Army Chief General Qamar Bajwa a big mistake but extension was a collective decision of all political parties.
He says that he does not want to talk about the circumstances under which this legislation was enacted, but the tradition of military chief extension is wrong.
He said that the extension of the tenure of former army chief General (retd) Qamar Javed Bajwa was not only a decision of PTI but a joint decision of all political parties.
Discussing the current political situation Asad Qaiser says that the decision to go back to the assemblies will be revisited as the speaker accepted the resignation of 34 PTI lawmakers after their announcement to join the parliament.
He says PTI leadership will sit on Friday to decide whether to rejoin the parliament or not but categorically says that there is no discussion with the government at any level.
Asad Qaiser says that when his party announced the decision on the government’s invitation to return to the National Assembly, the Speaker accepted the resignations of 34 PTI members.
They say that this proves that the Speaker National Assembly’s offer to PTI to return to Parliament was only a political statement and in fact the government does not want PTI to return to the House.
On the question whether President Arif Alvi will ask Prime Minister to take a vote of confidence, Asad Qaiser replied that there is an opinion within the party that the President should ask Shehbaz Sharif to take the vote of confidence, but he said that it is the prerogative of President Alvi whether he does so or not.
On the question that PTI’s resignation decision from the National Assembly Asad Qaiser says that it was a decision taken in consultation with the party leadership and that time his government was removed by an ‘external conspiracy’.
He says that they thought that after resigning from Parliament, general elections would be held soon, but as PTI’s resignation was not accepted even after several months, the party decided to return to Parliament.
He said that decisions have to be changed according to the situation and in the current circumstance the leader of the opposition has an important role in the formation of the caretaker government, therefore it was decided to go back to the assembly and play a role.
