File photo of PPP leaders Shazia Marri and Faisal Kurim Kundi
Rebuffing PTI’s allegations of bribery, opposition leaders claim it is the government that has ‘detained’ lawmakers at P.M. Khan’s residence
The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) on Wednesday rebuffed the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)’s allegations that it is “hiding” over 12 lawmakers of the ruling party at the Sindh House in Islamabad, claiming several opposition MNAs were staying at the site for their own safety in light of threats from government ministers and last week’s police raid on the Parliament Lodges.
Several government ministers, including Prime Minister Imran Khan, have alleged that the opposition has “detained” some of the ruling party’s lawmakers at Sindh House to pressure them into voting against the prime minister on the no-confidence resolution. Earlier on Wednesday, the prime minister claimed that opposition leaders had gathered at Sindh House with “bags of money” to bribe government lawmakers to support the no-confidence motion and had asked the Election Commission of Pakistan to take notice of the alleged horse-trading.
Similarly, Ports and Shipping Minister Ali Zaidi had claimed on Twitter that around 400 Special Security Unit personnel of the Sindh police had been deployed at the Sindh House to protect the “bags” of money to be used to “bribe” PTI MNAs.
“Yes, members of parliament are staying at Sindh House,” PPP leader Faisal Kurim Kundi told a press conference in Islamabad alongside party Information Secretary Shazia Marri. “Every member has a right to stay there. These members are from the opposition and our allies,” he said, adding that this was done at the request of the MNAs, as they feared being kidnapped after Islamabad police raided Parliament Lodges last week and PTI minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan told a gathering he wished he could ‘suicide bomb’ the opposition.
According to Marri, none of the MNAs at Sindh House belonged to the PTI, but were rather lawmakers of the PPP and the PMLN. She advised the government to trace any of its “missing” members, hinting they had no longer wanted to support the prime minister. She countered the government’s allegations by accusing the PTI of detaining some of its own MNAs at the prime minister’s Banigala residence. “Imran Khan is used to spreading fake news,” she added.
Both PPP leaders urged the chief justice of Pakistan to take notice of the PTI ministers’ statements warning their own members against entering Parliament on the day of voting on the no-confidence resolution. They also urged the ECP to take note of the repeated violations of its code of conduct; last week, the electoral body issued show-cause to the prime minister after he violated instructions against addressing public rallies in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa during an ongoing election campaign.