No controversial legislation on new provinces, says Barrister Gohar Ali

Speaking outside the Supreme Court, PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar said the party founder should be allowed to meet political leaders and his family. He said a meeting with Allama Raja Nasir and Mahmood Achakzai was extremely necessary. He said Mr Achakzai had written to the Prime Minister on the Election Commission issue, and the letter should be acted on.

He said talks had so far remained limited to offers, and progress should be made on them. “If we act on our own, a flood of people will come,” he said.

He said he thanked the people of Sindh. The people of Sindh gave a warm welcome to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi, he said. The welcome, he said, showed that the people did not want the status quo.

Barrister Gohar said there should be neither point-scoring nor political statements on terrorism. He said India and RAW had been found behind terrorism in Pakistan. The national political leadership should take a serious approach to terrorism, he said. Civilians and the armed forces were making sacrifices, he added.

The PTI chairman said the matter of creating provinces was serious and should be debated. He said there should be no controversial legislation for creating provinces. Dividing Sindh, Punjab and Balochistan without the will of the people and their representatives would create complications, he said. Consultation like that held for the 18th Amendment should take place, he said. A hasty decision on creating provinces would go against the unity of the federation, he added.