No decision yet on governor rule in Sindh: Rashid

Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid said on Friday that he had presented a summary to Prime Minister Imran Khan on imposing governor rule in Sindh earlier in the day but added that during a PTI parliamentary committee meeting no decision had been made on the suggestion so far.

Talking to reporters in Islamabad, the interior minister asked the dissident PTI lawmakers staying in the capital’s Sindh House to consult with their constituencies and their voters on what they thought about their decision.

“I appeal to them to return [to PTI],” he said. “All those who have been sold should return to the party,” he added, assuring them that “no one will say anything to you”.

If they did not return to the PTI, the MNAs would regret their decision, Rashid said, commenting that whoever had shared the videos of the lawmakers was “foolish” because they favoured the prime minister.

The interior minister said the government had received information about the presence of only about five to six lawmakers at Sindh House but the videos had shown between nine and 12.

“Come back so we can repaint you,” he told the MNAs.

He accused the opposition of turning Sindh House into a stock exchange but said the government would not conduct a raid on the building.

“Why would we take action regarding Sindh House when we [already] have all the information?” he asked. The minister, however, questioned the need for deploying a large number of policemen at the Sindh House, saying posting a large number of police officials could cause “problems”.

At the start of his presser, Rashid spoke about the security situation in view of the ruling PTI and the opposition’s rallies in the capital later this month. “We want to mutually decide these matters including the routes for rallies. There is no room for conflict in democracy.”

However, the opposition should not remain under any misconception as to what would happen if the situation worsened, he warned.

Bringing a no-confidence motion against the premier was the opposition’s right and nobody would face security issues while voting on it, the interior minister assured.

On a question of when voting on the resolution was expected, Rashid said it was not clear how many days the process would take. “Only the [National Assembly] speaker can answer that [but] Imran Khan will hammer the final nail in the coffins of money launderers,” he added.

A day earlier, several lawmakers from the ruling PTI, who had been ‘in hiding’ at the Sindh House, revealed themselves — proving that opposition claims of having won over members of the ruling coalition were indeed true.

But while government members continued to claim that these dissidents had ‘sold their souls for money’, a number of TV channels that sent their teams into Sindh House to verify the claims were faced with nearly a dozen PTI members, who poured their hearts out and laid bare all their gripes with the ruling party.

Television footage showed PTI MNAs, including some women lawmakers, lounging around the spacious Sindh House, which is located right opposite the official residence of the chief justice of Pakistan.

The building is now under the protection of Special Security Unit (SSU) personnel of the Sindh police.