LAHORE: Federal Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah on Tuesday expressed the possibility of imposing the Governor’s Rule in Punjab while talking to the media at the Punjab Assembly.
He said the opposition had 180 numbers in the assembly. “We have been honest since the beginning, but the PTI and CM Pervez Elahi don’t have 186 numbers and this was why they are not getting a vote of confidence and opting for illegal tactics.” He added no matter what, they would have to take a vote of confidence.
The interior minister said Elahi was using illegal tactics to run away from the vote of confidence. He said: “Economic stability is important for the country. The pledges received by Pakistan at the Geneva conference will help rebuild the economy and are a slap in the face of people spreading propaganda on the country defaulting.”
He added: “The donations pledged in Geneva show that the entire world is standing with Pakistan, the prime minister and coalition government. This help is an evidence of the trust the world has in Pakistan and is a slap on the face of segments running propaganda against the country for the past three months.”
Sana said the government had expected to collect $8 billion at the conference but, thankfully, received pledges of more than $10 bn. This amount might increase. “I want to tell the public today that this is not a loan. It is a grant which will help us pull the country out of crises that Imran Khan and his team had pushed us into. The grant will reduce the dollar rate and inflation and ultimately the dissatisfaction among the people. With this, the drama of Imran’s popularity will also come to an end.”
He said “something fishy” was under way at the Punjab Assembly and hinted that Elahi was trying to avert the vote of confidence. “When I arrived at the PA today, I was stopped from entering the House on the orders of PA speaker and chief minister,” he claimed, calling the alleged move unconstitutional and illegal.
Ataullah Tarar, Special Assistant to PM, said he was stopped at the gate of the Punjab Assembly and told that he was not allowed to enter the assembly. He said the Lahore Master Plan had been stopped by the Lahore High Court. The plan had been approved in haste because they knew that billions of rupees would be collected in the few days of the PTI government. He said 96 kilometres of Lahore had been declared brown area. Farmlands were declared brown area for establishing housing societies.
Tarar said he wanted to tell Moonis Elahi there was a stay order on the Master Plan and NAB had also started work on it. He said Elahi had gradually lost political and moral legitimacy. “We request the Lahore High Court to order a vote of confidence, or we will go to the Supreme Court of Pakistan.”
Earlier, the Punjab Assembly session witnessed an uproar for the second day as opposition lawmakers raised slogans against Elahi. At the start, the assembly doors were closed and security guards remained on a high alert after Monday’s session saw ruckus as the opposition challenged Elahi to prove he had the requisite numbers to secure a vote of confidence. However, PMLN lawmakers, who accused Elahi and PA Speaker Sibtain Khan of instructing the police to bar their entry, were able to force their way in. During the session, which began after a three-hour delay, the opposition lawmakers chanted slogans against Elahi, calling him a Daakoo (robber) as Sanaullah and Tarar looked on from the Visitors Gallery.
Rana Mashhood of the PMLN, speaking on the floor of the assembly, challenged Elahi to prove he had the requisite numbers for securing a vote of confidence. “Taking a vote of confidence is your constitutional responsibility. If you have the guts, do the voting right now and we will respond with whom the House is standing.”
Taking aim at the Punjab government, he said people wanted accountability for “flour thieves”. He asked who was there not to let standing committees function. “It is the first assembly in which rules on standing committees were not implemented. The assembly was asked four times on Monday that vote on the bills and do not mislead the nation.”
Mehmood-ur-Rashid criticised Rana Sanaullah, sitting in the gallery. “Our government is established and will continue to be established,” he said. “Listen to those talking about the no-confidence motion, the motion was withdrawn due to shame,” said Zaheer Abbas Khokhar from the government side. “We distrust them,” he said and demanded that Arshad Sharif’s killers be made accountable. The public wants an answer on the attack on Imran Khan. After his speech, Khokhar walked out of the assembly. He said a criminal was sitting in the assembly, so he was walking out.
Speaker Sibtain Khan adjourned the session for 15 minutes and then till 3pm on Wednesday.
A shoe was thrown on the vehicle of Rana Sanaullah on the premises of the Punjab Assembly when he was leaving after the session was prorogued. The shoe was allegedly thrown by PTI Member Punjab Assembly Rashid Hafeez’s driver. The shoe hit the front screen of Sana’s car.
Earlier, Sanaullah and Tarar faced resistance while entering the Punjab Assembly. When their vehicles tried to enter the PA, the assembly doors were closed. Security personnel in large numbers were deployed outside the PA. PMLN MPAs got opened the gate forcibly and took Sana and Atta into the assembly. The police and assembly staff stopped other vehicles from entering the assembly.
Meanwhile, Punjab Governor Balighur Rahman said Elahi had refrained from taking a vote of confidence in the given time, so he and his cabinet were de-notified. “As the governor, my priority is to uphold the supremacy of the Constitution,” he said while talking to different delegations and PMLN members on Tuesday. He also held a farewell meeting for the outgoing British High Commissioner Christian Turner.
The governor said the Punjab government was on the interim order of court and hoped that the court would announce a final verdict in this case soon. He said the PMLN always respected court decisions. The federal government is trying to run the system smoothly, so that political and economic stability are brought to the country. He said the economic team, headed by Federal Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, was determined to bring economic stability to the country.
It is noteworthy that the statement of Rana Sanaullah on the probability of Governor’s Rule in Punjab has caused many speculations. However, Adviser on Home Umar Sarfaraz Cheema has termed Rana’s statement “absurd” and asserted that the chief minister did not need a vote of confidence now.
Talking to the media outside the Punjab Assembly, Cheema said that under the Constitution, the governor could ask the CM to seek a vote of confidence, but the letter written by the governor was mala fide.
Earlier, a joint parliamentary meeting of the PMLN and PPP was held before the PA session and 152 MPAs attended it.
