Islamabad: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) announced on Sunday that it will boycott the voting for the 26th constitutional amendment, which the government and its allies are set to present in the National Assembly and Senate today.
In a statement, PTI said, “Those currently in the [lower and upper] Houses lack moral, democratic, or constitutional authority to amend the Constitution. Using constitutional changes to impose an unjust system is like permanently burying democracy.”
This decision comes after reports that 11 PTI lawmakers, including two senators, have lost contact. PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan confirmed that nine National Assembly members (MNAs) and two senators are unreachable ahead of today’s parliamentary session.
According to party sources, Opposition Leader Omar Ayub also confirmed that seven lawmakers could not be reached.
The missing lawmakers include PTI MNAs Zain Qureshi, Zahoor Qureshi, Aslam Ghumman, Usman Ali, Riaz Fatyana, Choudhary Ilyas, Miqdad Hussain, Aurangzeb Khan Khichi, and Mubarak Zeb Khan, along with Senators Zarqa Suharwardy and Faisal Saleem.
The government initially planned to present the bill on Saturday. Still, it was delayed after Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) leader Maulana Fazlur Rehman requested time for a PTI response before offering his party’s support.
