ANP fighting for parliament, not PM: Asfandyar
26 August, 2014
PESHAWAR: Newly elected Awami National Party president, Asfandyar Wali Khan said on Monday that he stands with the parliament, saying "seeking resignation at gunpoint is unconstitutional".
"What do the people staging sit-ins want?" he asked during a talk with media, the first since he was elected as the ANP president for the fourth time last week in Charsadda. Asfandyar said that asking for the prime minister's resignation was not unconstitutional. He added that the constitution has laid down the procedure for the removal of the prime minister, and both Imran Khan and Tahirul Qadri should pursue the given procedure.
"We are not fighting for the prime minister. We are fighting for parliament," he declared, adding that Imran Khan's demand for resignation of the PM was uncalled for and there should be a limit to one's ego. "How you will run the state if you don't pay taxes?" he asked in a reference to the PTI chief's demand to people to stop paying taxes and utility bills as part of a civil disobedience movement. Asfandyar said the ANP would support Mehmood Khan Achakzai's call for public meetings in support of democracy and parliament's sovereignty.
The ANP chief praised the way Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is handling the political crises emanating from the sit-ins being staged by the PAT and PTI in Islamabad. He said the federal government is successfully handling the situation emerging due to the so-called Azadi and Inqilab marches, saying the prime minister was not giving them (PAT-PTI) corpses "which their leadership was asking for". "I appreciate the positive role of the prime minister in the present crises," he said.
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