PDM chief to file plea in SC seeking formation of full bench in Punjab CM election case

The PDM chief Maulana Fazal ur Rehman will file a petition in the Supreme Court of Pakistan to become a party in the Punjab CM election, seeking the formation of a full bench to hear the case. He announced on Sunday during a press conference in Islamabad.

Accompanied by party leaders, among them Akram Khan Durrani and Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri, and Kamran Murtaza, he said the party leader has the final authority to decide the party’s policy and that all other office holders (lawmakers) must follow it.

“A party leader runs his or her parliamentary party even though he or she is not a member of the house,” he said, adding that after the debacle in the Punjab Assembly, a new discussion began that only the house leader has the power to lead the party in the assembly.

Separately, speaking to reporters in his hometown, Abdul Khel in Dera Ismail Khan on Sunday, Maulana Fazl, who also leads the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), cautioned that the ruling coalition “will never accept any meddling, whether soft or hard, in national affairs”.

His remarks took place one day after some news channels reported that the establishment offered a “soft intervention” to solve the current political crisis that has been underway since former prime minister Imran Khan was voted out by a vote of no confidence in April.

The head of the PDM said that all state institutions should remain within the limits and not go beyond their constitutional jurisdiction.

He cautioned that if institutions infringe their domain, it will foment a crisis that the same institutions would be incapable of controlling.

Maulana Fazl said that the parliament will make all decisions in accordance with the Constitution “without being blackmailed or pressured”. He also asserted that the courts and “authorities” fully and unconditionally supported the government of Mr. Khan. But since the PDM assumed power, interference in parliamentary and administrative matters has begun.

While claiming that Imran Khan nearly bankrupted the country, the head of the PDM demanded that the government investigate allegations of corruption during the PTI’s government and hold everyone responsible.