Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Wednesday chaired a meeting of parliamentary parties at his chamber in Parliament to seek consultation from political parties on the on-going issue of the de-seating of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) lawmakers.The premier constituted a four-member team to convince
the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) for withdrawal of resolutions regarding de-seating of the PTI MP MNAs, sources said.
Both the parties which moved the resolution against the PTI were adamant to de-seat the PTI lawmakers, however, parliamentary leaders of other parties tried their best to persuade the two parties to settle their issues with the PTI outside Parliament instead of on the floor of the house.
Meanwhile, the MQM and the JUI-F sought some time for taking the resolution back on de-seating of the PTI, sources added.
The agenda of the meeting was to decide whether to form a parliamentary commission on the report of a judicial commission, which was formed to probe alleged poll rigging; how the PTI should be treated in the lower house and do decide the fate of PTI MNAs.
“The prime minister’s meeting with parliamentary leaders is in continuation of the deliberation process with political parties since PTI’s dharna,” a Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) official told.
The prime minister and parliamentary leaders also discussed a proposal forwarded by Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif to form a parliamentary commission to probe the perpetrators, financiers and motivators of the dharna.
The PML-N was largely not in favour of the proposal, sources said, adding that a majority of the political parties in the National Assembly, including the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), were not in favour of this proposal.
As for how to deal with the pending resolution seeking to de-seat PTI MNAs over their absence from the NA, the PML-N and the PPP were against the resolution but participants of the meeting are said to have discussed the issue comprehensively.
PTI parliamentarians, meanwhile, were not invited to attend the meeting.
