Extension in army chief tenure is a wrong precedent: Asad Qaiser
ISLAMABAD, Jan 19 (SABAH): Former Speaker of the National Assembly and senior leader of Pakistan 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 “Voice of America”, the former Speaker National Assembly Asad Qaiser termed the decision of extension given to former Army Chief General (retd) Qamar Javed Bajwa a big mistake but extension was a collective decision of all political parties.
Asad Qaiser said that he does not wants talking 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 said that the decision to go back to the assemblies will be revisited as the speaker accepted the resignation of 35 PTI lawmakers after their announcement to join the parliament.
He said that the PTI leadership will sit today (Friday) to decide whether to rejoin the parliament or not but categorically said that there is no discussion with the government at any level.
Asad Qaiser said that when his party announced the decision on the government’s invitation to return to the National Assembly, the Speaker NA accepted the resignations of 35 PTI members.
He said 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 Dr. Arif Alvi will ask Prime Minister Mian Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif 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 of PTI’s resignation decision from the National Assembly, Asad Qaiser said that it was a decision taken in consultation with the party leadership and that time his government was removed by an ‘external conspiracy’. He said that they thought that after resigning from Parliament, general elections would be held soon, but as PTI’s resignations were not accepted even after several months, the party decided to return to the 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 the role.