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Meeting participants say will not accept decisions ‘made by a few people’
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PML-N govt decides to put PAT chief Tahirul Qadri’s name on ECL
LAHORE: The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and its political allies Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) and National Party (NP) have decided to fight against all ‘undemocratic’ and ‘unconstitutional’ undertaken action in Balochistan, while the ruling party has also decided to put the name of Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) Chairman Dr Tahirul Qadri on the Exit Control List (ECL).
The decisions were reached in separate meetings held at the residence of ousted prime minister and PML-N President Nawaz Sharif in Jati Umra, Raiwind.
During a meeting held to discuss the political situation in Balochistan, the leaders of the three parties remarked that they will not accept the decisions made by a few people over the people’s decision, while emphasising the need for political stability in the restive province.
Once stability was achieved through a reconciliation process, political turmoil was brought in overnight, the attendees of the meeting observed.
The meeting chaired by Nawaz Sharif was attended by Azad Jammu and Kashmir Prime Minister Raja Farooq Haider, Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal, Nawaz’s daughter Maryam Nawaz, Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah, Minister for States and Frontier Regions Abdul Qadir Baloch, Minister for Maritime Affairs Mir Hasil Khan Bizenjo and PkMAP chief Mahmood Khan Achakzai among other leaders from Balochistan.
The MPAs from Balochistan said that the movement to oust chief minister Sardar Sanaullah Zehri was carried out while keeping the parliamentarians in the dark, and those involved in the movement had never mentioned that they were not satisfied with Zehri’s leadership.
The need to launch the movement just four to five months before the general elections was also questioned by the participants, who further inquired that how, when and where was the decision to elect a new chief minister of the province was made.
While saying that such actions were against the democratic rights of the people of Balochistan and labeling the series of events an ‘insult to the rights given to the people in the constitution’, the participants of the meeting added that electing a person who received only a few hundred votes as the provincial chief minister is against the spirit of democracy.
Earlier this month, the PML-N government in Balochistan led by Zehri had faced a sudden crisis when some treasury MPAs had filed a no-confidence motion and important ministers and advisers had switched camps, sparking a series of resignations and sackings.
Sanaullah Zehri was forced to resign to avoid the no-confidence motion and Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) leader Abdul Quddus Bizenjo was unanimously elected as the new Balochistan CM.
QADRI TO BE PUT ON ECL:
In another meeting chaired by Nawaz in which Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif were also present, the ruling party decided to put PAT chief Dr Tahirul Qadri’s name on the Exit Control List (ECL).
The meeting discussed the pending court cases against Qadri and agreed that it was important to put his name on the ECL so that he could face the courts in Pakistan.
The PAT chief is nominated in several cases of terrorism related to the violence during his 2014 sit-in in the federal capital and has been declared an offender by the anti-terrorism court owing to his constant absence from the proceedings.
