ISLAMABAD: As the PTI moved a contempt petition in the Supreme Court against the non-implementation of its July 12 judgement in the reserved seats case, the former ruling party on Monday decided to join the Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP), which was re-constituted to include parliamentarians in light of the 26th amendment.

The decision was made in a parliamentary party meeting chaired by PTI leader Omar Ayub, who is also the National Assem­bly opposition leader. The meeting also decided to take strict action against party members who allegedly betrayed the party and its leadership.

It may be noted that the PTI recently issued show-cause notices to lawmakers Zain Qureshi, Riaz Fat­yana, Aslam Ghum­man, and Miqdad Ali Khan for violating party discipline in the lead-up to the passage of the 26th amendment.

Besides endorsing the decision of the political co­m­mittee, the PTI meeting also approved the sch­edule of protests and public meetings. Acco­r­ding to details, the PTI meeting discussed the pr­e­vailing situation after the passage of the 26th Co­­nstitutional Amend­ment and different options, inc­luding legal action, were considered to challenge the new legislation.

The participants of the meeting were of the view that Imran Khan had been imprisoned by the government for ‘political gains’. It may be noted that the PTI leader has been in jail for more than one year.

On the other hand, PTI lawmaker Asad Qaiser lam­basted the amendment in the National Assembly session, saying the amendment was approved in an “unethical and illegal way”. “Our legislators were threatened, pressurised, and their children were arrested. All possible efforts were made to get their votes. I cannot understand how Bilawal Bhutto became part of it. Houses of legislators were bulldozed and their land was occupied,” he claimed.