Bilawal asks if Imran will expel himself for not casting vote in Senate polls

KARACHI: Speaking on Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)’s decision of expelling its members involved in horse-trading in the Senate elections, Chairman Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has asked Chairman PTI Imran Khan if he would expel himself from the party for not casting vote in the same elections.

“Those who talk about sanctity of vote, they themselves neither respected vote nor parliament nor people in last five years,” he said while addressing a ceremony organized by the Sindh Forest Department to inaugurate one million mangroves plantation drive in Indus Delta to create another record for Guinness World Records at Keti Bunder. He was accompanied by Chief Minister Sindh Murad Ali Shah.

He questioned whether Khan sahib would expel himself from the party for not turning up to cast vote in the recently held Senate polls.

Bilawal said that Imran Khan had no respect for the parliament and even he did not cast his vote for the Senate election. “Now, he has removed his 20 MPAs of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly from his party for not casting vote for party candidates, as a matter of fact he himself did not cast vote for Senate election in the National Assembly, so he should also resign from party as he has removed his MPAs,” he said.

At the same time, he said if the PTI was taking action against the members who were involved in horse-trading then it was a right thing to do.

Read More: PTI expels twenty members for selling votes in Senate elections

The PPP chairman also lambasted the PTI for not expelling Jehangir Tareen who has been disqualified in a court verdict.

Those who speak about the respect for vote, have never respected the parliament, the people or their votes in last 5 years. The people of Pakistan will support the #PPP: @BBhuttoZardari pic.twitter.com/yWNYeJIann

— PPP (@MediaCellPPP) April 19, 2018

The PTI on Wednesday threatened to expel 20 members who were allegedly responsible for horse-trading in the Senate elections last month.

Those who have been accused of horse-trading include Sardar Idrees, Zahid Durrani, Abdul Haq, Qurban Khan, Amjad Afridi, Arif Yousaf, Javed Nasim, Yasin Khalil, Faisal Zaman, Dina Naz, Nargis Ali, Nagina Khan, Obaid Mayar, Fouzia Bibi, Naseem Hayat, and Samiullah Alizai.

The members also include Meraj Humayun who joined from the Quami Watan Party, Khatoon Bibi, and Babar Saleem joining from the Awami Jamhoori Ittehad, and Wajih-uz-Zaman who joined from the PML-N.

Imran said that show-cause notices will be issued to the 20 members, and if no response was received then the party would take disciplinary actions. He further said the investigating committee would hand over the names of those held responsible in horse-trading to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).

The PTI chief said that alleged lawmakers received Rs40 million each. He also lauded other members who resisted the temptation of taking large sums offered by other parties.

Bilawal Zardari said that both, Pakistan Muslim Leauge-Nawaz (PML-N) Quaid Nawaz Sharif and Imran Khan never respected parliament and now they were giving sermons on the dignity of parliament.

Talking about Nawaz Sharif’s campaign for restoring sanctity of vote, the chairman said he never accepted sanctity of the parliament.

“During his tenure as a prime minister he hardly attended assembly session for six times and now he is talking about sanctity of vote,” he said.

To a query about Nadeem Afzal Nadeem’s joining PTI, Bilawal said he was present in their ranks but had changed his loyalty much before. “Those who are loyal with the ideology of the party are and will be with us,” he said.