Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Senator Mashal Yousafzai has made her party’s backing for the proposed 28th Constitutional Amendment conditional on relief for party founder Imran Khan. She said that she and 25 other senators would vote in favour of the measure if Khan stood to benefit from it.
Speaking on the Khabar programme, Yousafzai said that if the amendment concerned Khan’s release, PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan would be the first to cast a vote. She added that she would not have discussed the proposed changes at all had Khan opposed the provisions under consideration.
Yousafzai criticises Achakzai over negotiations for Khan
Yousafzai also took aim at Mahmood Khan Achakzai, whose role in talks on Khan’s behalf she questioned. She said Khan had chosen Achakzai to lead the talks, but that little progress had been made over the past year.
According to Yousafzai, Achakzai should have represented the opposition in the recent negotiations. She claimed he travelled to Quetta during the talks and did not answer calls. She further alleged that he came back only after PTI lost its government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and said he was reluctant to visit the speaker’s chamber whenever negotiations came up.
She argued that national interests should come before personal ones. Yousafzai also claimed that Achakzai had entered the assembly on PTI’s seats under Form 47, a claim that is presented here as her allegation. She said the party’s dispute with the PML-N concerned seats, and that Achakzai had no problem with the prime minister and should therefore have taken part in the talks.
Claims about other figures in talks and the long march
Yousafzai said Barrister Saif had kept contacts with both sides and tried to arrange meetings with Khan, and that he had played a role when meetings with Bushra Bibi were halted. She said Salman Akram Raja and Intizar Panjutha had been unable to make headway on the issue at Adiala Jail.
She also said Asad Qaiser was upset with Barrister Saif over a personal matter, and claimed Qaiser wanted his brother to become chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. According to her, Saif had helped Qaiser meet Khan at Adiala Jail, but Khan rejected Qaiser’s proposal, and Saif could not be blamed for that decision. Yousafzai added that efforts had been made to make Meena Khan chief minister of the province.
On the party’s long march, Yousafzai said those responsible for Plans B, C and D were not responding, leaving other members in the dark about the strategy. She named Shahid Khattak and Shafi Jan among those not answering calls, and said the plan remained unclear. She added that Chief Minister Sohail Afridi had not shared the plan with anyone and that it had gone with him.
Yousafzai said a small group had drawn up the long march strategy to keep it from leaking, and complained that party decisions had previously been taken elsewhere while others bore the criticism. She said PTI decisions would now be made by vote, and that no specific group would be allowed to decide alone. She added that the march did not appear to be moving forward, and said Shahid Khattak could explain the strategy if he came forward.
