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ISLAMABAD: The political committee of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) announced on Sunday that it will boycott the voting process for the 26th constitutional amendment, which is set to be presented by the government and its allies in the National Assembly and Senate today.
In a statement, the former ruling party declared, “Those currently occupying the [lower and upper] Houses have no moral, democratic, or constitutional legitimacy to alter the Constitution. Using constitutional amendments to impose an unjust system is akin to permanently burying democracy.”
This decision from PTI follows reports that 11 of its lawmakers, including two senators, have gone out of contact. Party Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan confirmed that nine members of the National Assembly (MNAs) and two senators are currently unreachable ahead of the parliamentary session scheduled for later today.
According to party sources, Opposition Leader Omar Ayub also confirmed that contact could not be established with seven lawmakers.
Among those missing are 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 table the legislation on Saturday but postponed it at the request of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) leader Maulana Fazlur Rehman, who stated that his party would support the amendment after receiving a response from PTI.