ISLAMABAD-
Member National Assembly and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf leader Shah Mehmood Qureshi addressed the joint Parliament session.
Read here: Parliament session Day 2: ANP, NP, QWP back govt, criticise long march, PTI MNAs arrive in session
He said that the country stands at a crossroads and it can either be weaken or strengthened by us. He said that while there are some elements seeking to add fuel to fire, others want to resolve the issues.
He said that the Parliament is just as respectable to him as it is to others and he is here to represent his party and its stance.
‘This parliament is our political ‘Ka’aba'”, he said.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Defence Minister Khawaja Asif left the assembly hall during Qureshi’s speech.
Qureshi added that PTI does not hold anything against the NA. He said he had pleaded the protestors to calm down and not attack the Parliament.
He said that Imran Khan is his leader but late PPP leader Benazir Bhutto trained him.
He added that it was the right of the members to defend the Parliament but asked what kind of Parliament it is which has been viewed suspiciously since elections.
“Since 1970, in every election there have been accusations of rigging in elections.”
“We heard all the member yesterday and I can answer each one of them but I do not want to spoil the moods”, he said.
“”There is an impression here that there is a grand plan, a script.”
“Let me state that PTI never was and never will be a part of anyplan to undermine the Constitution and democracy,” he said.
He questioned if the Parliament remembers how his party got here.
“Do we not remember the sit-in Defence Lahore after May 2013 general elections? Do we not remember what happened in NA-250?,” he asked.
He said that his party opposes the imposition of Article 245.
“We did not give invitation to the third force. History now knows who invited the third force for mediation,” he said, referring to PM’s request to COAS to mediate in the political crisis last week.
He said that Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party leader Mehmood Khan Achakzai said that the sit-in has been instigated.
“Yes, it has been instigated on a signal but the signal came from the people of Pakistan,” he said.
The PTI leader further said that people should be allowed to hold peaceful protestors.
“They said that if we came to the capital, there would be a bloodbath but history witnessed that our protest has been peaceful.
In response to a reaction by rival MNAs, Qureshi said that they were free not to believe him.
He said that upon the initiation of Azadi March, PTI core committee agreed upon resisting martial law and struggle within the realm of consitution, democracy and without violence.
” Imran Khan, in his speech in NA, had asked for scrutiny of four constituencies so that the problems could become clear.”
” He said that if the government does not cooperate on this, he would come out on streets. And he did”, said Qureshi.
He said that it was said that the protesters would storm the Parliament.
“This is our home and nobody would attack this home,” he said.
Qureshi’s claims were met with resounding boos by the lawmakers.
Leader of opposition Khurshid Shah appealed to the Parliamentarians to let Qureshi speak and not cause hinderances.
Qureshi continued,
“PTI has stayed within the law, throughout,” he said.
He said that there was concern of situation taking a critical turn while the protestors were moving from Kashmir road to D-chowk.
He said that PTI workers took an oath not to storm any building.
“Qadri said he would go ahead, Imran Khan told me the situation was getting out of hand, go and sort it out.”
“I want to say this on record that I begged Qadri but he said that the crowd was not in his control.”
” I told him that this cannot be allowed or others could take an advantage out of this. He (Qadri) told me to talk to the people but when I tried they booed at me.”
Qureshi urged the Parliamentarians to look closely to why the situation took such a turn.
“Understand what happened in Model Town in Lahore. There were shot dead.”
He said he was horrified to see the injured on his visit to the hospital.
” Understand the frustration, the helplessness, the rage of those who had buried the murdered and were being denied FIR,” he said.
He said he went to Minhajul Quran on Imran Khan’s directives to know what had happened.
He said that PTI and PAT agreed on the four-point agenda while maintaining their distinct identities.
” We cannot dictate PAT. It has its own ideology,” he said.
He said that his workers were being arrested and threatened adding that they were shot not with rubber bullets but live ones.
He said that when Imran Khan came to know of PTV building attack, he immediately asked the crowd to vacate the place and called the attack unacceptable.
Qureshi said that the situation had reached an impasse upon the issue of PM’s resignation which the government committee said was nonnegotiable.
He said that Ishaq Dar, head of government committee told them that the Parliament has adopted a joint resolution against PM’s resignation and that the government is bound to the resolution.
Qureshi invited all parites to join PTI for ensuring free and fair electoral process, adding that it was not only PTI but also PPP and many other parties that stated that 2013 elections were not fair.
“ Let’s move beyond our egos to make a new beginning for the future of Pakistan,” he said.
At the end of his speech, Speaker Ayaz Sadiq asked Qureshi to come to his chamber to discuss the resignations submitted by PTI.
PTI lawmakers then left the House.