Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan said on Wednesday that the party's parliamentary group will work to have emergency and governor's rule in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa withdrawn. Speaking to journalists outside Parliament House in Islamabad, he said the joint parliamentary party had strongly condemned the measures and discussed the political vacuum they had created. He added that the parliamentary party would play an active part in filling that vacuum and in pressing for the measures to be rolled back.

Eight-Hour Meeting And Next Steps

Gohar said the joint parliamentary party meeting, held a day earlier, lasted eight hours and was attended by around 70 members of the National Assembly and Senate. Participants expressed confidence in the party leadership and in both opposition leaders, he said, and praised the role of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi. Recommendations drawn up at the meeting have been sent to opposition leaders Mahmood Khan Achakzai and Allama Raja Nasir Abbas, and will be finalised after their approval, according to Gohar. He also said the question of a 28th Constitutional Amendment was neither on the agenda nor discussed, and warned against rushing controversial legislation.

Opposition Talks Continue

Separately, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman met Senate Opposition Leader Allama Raja Nasir Abbas, with both sides condemning the emergency and governor's rule as contrary to democratic principles. Participants in that meeting raised concern over the arrests of the chief minister, the provincial assembly speaker and members of the National Assembly, and called for the release of political prisoners and protection of political freedoms. They also discussed holding an all-parties conference and backed Fazl's call for a new Charter of Democracy to help resolve the country's political crises.

Sources: The News, The News Lark.