PTI hasn't intended to return to National Assembly: Fawad

Islamabad: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaaf had no intention of returning to the National Assembly, former information minister and PTI leader Fawad Chaudhry said on Tuesday, asserting the incumbent speaker did not have the authority to review the resignations of party members after they had been accepted by the previous speaker. 

Flanked by Hammad Azhar, he told a presser that the party considered that parliament had been "occupied".

"They have taken possession of the assembly and we don't have any intention of returning.

"We are of the opinion that the NA speaker has accepted the resignations of our lawmakers and this speaker does not have the authority to review [the decision]."

Lashing out at the government for the thuggery against PTI protesters leading up to and during its May 25 Azadi March, the minister maintained that the party was compiling a video of the brutality and would raise the issue at the international level.

"We are also filing criminal complaints in Pakistan," he said, adding that such violence was not even carried out in dictatorships.

Videos would then be sent to international human rights commissions, he maintained.