Hashmi wants to present his case before PTI youth

MULTAN: Veteran politician Javed Hashmi, whose party membership was suspended by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) yesterday, has submitted his nomination papers to contest by-elections.

Talking to media persons after filing his papers at the Election Commission’s office here, he said the PTI Vice Chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi did not even enjoy respect among the party’s youth.

He said he did not want to resign from the National Assembly seat while still being in the PTI. But, he said, he had to announce his decision to quit from the floor of the National Assembly when the Speaker did not take any decision on the resignations. “I did it to spare the Speaker some trouble,” he added.

He said he had returned the right of representation to the people of his constituency. “The electorate are the actual owners of my constituency,” he said.

Javed Hashmi said Pakistan’s situation is deteriorating while the constitution is being shredded into pieces.

He said the decisions being made within the PTI are becoming a source of humiliation for its voters.

Hashmi said if the people of his constituency deemed his views right, they would come out and vote for him. He expressed his gratitude to the parties which have decided not to field their candidates against him.

He said conspiracy was hatched against the right of the people from inside the container. “Tehreek-e-Insaf made decisions inside the container. I will never allow such hypocrisy with the youth of the party,” he added.

Hashmi said he had not received any show-cause notice from the PTI and added that Jehangir Tarin himself is an unconstitutional Secretary General of the party. “Only Imran Khan and I held legal and constitutional positions in the party,” he argued.

He said he wanted to present his case before the PTI youth from the container.