ISLAMABAD - Soon after the decision of Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to de-seat 25 lawmakers on ground of defection, the opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf on Friday said that the development has rolled back half of the conspiracy hatched to topple the then government of ex-premier Imran Khan. The opposition party also claimed that Punjab government of Hamza Shehbaz has practically ceased to exist after the decision and now there is no justification for Punjab Assembly to function. Talking to reporters outside the ECP, PTI secretary general, Asad Umar said that nobody knows who is running Punjab after the decision, and the constitutional crisis has deepened further. He said that the PTI wanted that the change, which had been brought through a conspiracy, should be reversed like one part of the conspiracy has been rolled back through the decision of the Election Commission. He said that the decision has closed the chapter of dreadful politics once forever in the country. At the same time, the PTI leader said that they had no faith in the incumbent Election Commission. The status of general elections would remain under question if these were held without taking into confidence Pakistan’s biggest political party. He claimed Imran Khan had raised its voice to cleanse politics from filth like buying and selling of conscience to make money and to topple elected governments. Separately, PTI leader and former information minister Fawad Chaudhry said that the federal and the provincial government in Punjab had ended practically after the decision of ECP, and now only a ‘constitutional conclusion’ was pending. He said that the Sharif family should stop from plunging the country into a deeper crisis.
He called on the ruling coalition to tender resignations and let the country move towards fresh elections. There should be no experiments of making MNA Raja Riaz a leader of opposition, he added. Chaudhry said that the date for new elections should be announced and the electoral exercise should be conducted under a new Election Commission.