Photo courtesy National Assembly of Pakistan
The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has decided to, once again, attempt to get the resignations of lawmakers from the National Assembly approved as a “group”—despite Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf maintaining that he will only accept resignations that are individually verified.
Following the ouster of PTI chief Imran Khan as prime minister in April, the party had resigned en masse from the National Assembly. However, contrary to standard practice, the resignations were in the form of an identical, typed letter and were not hand-written. While then-deputy speaker Qasim Suri had initially accepted the resignations, incoming Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf had rejected his ruling and directed the lawmakers to appear before him individually to verify them.
After the passage of several months, the speaker had accepted the resignations of 11 PTI MNAs in July but had not offered any reason for why these resignations were accepted, while the remainder were still pending. The PTI has repeatedly pointed to this as “unfair,” and accused the ruling coalition of trying to damage its “strategy” by accepting the resignations piecemeal.
Earlier this month, ahead of its now-delayed plans to dissolve the Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa assemblies on Dec. 23, PTI Parliamentary leader Shah Mehmood Qureshi wrote to Ashraf seeking a time to appear before him and verify their resignations as a “group.” However, this plan was also dashed, with the party claiming it would now approach the Supreme Court to get its resignations verified.
This plan has now been altered, with the PTI announcing that its lawmakers would approach the speaker this week—on Dec. 28 (Wednesday)—as a “group” to get their resignations verified.
In a letter addressed to Qureshi, the NA Secretariat last week noted that Ashraf had summoned the lawmakers on May 30 and given them time to appear in person and confirm their resignations, but “none of them came.” Citing Rule 43 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the National Assembly, 2007, Ashraf said he was required to meet all 127 MNAs of the PTI individually to ascertain whether they had tendered their resignations freely and without duress. He then urged Qureshi to send all party MNAs individually to verify their resignations.
In a press release issued on Sunday in response to the PTI’s latest plan, the NA Secretariat once again reminded Qureshi that all the MNAs must appear individually or their resignations would not be accepted.
Speaking with media, PTI leader Chaudhry Fawad Hussain claimed Ashraf had not been available when the PTI lawmakers had attempted to meet him last week. “We are making another attempt to meet him on Wednesday,” he said, adding that the lawmakers would get their resignations verified as a group and would not meet Ashraf individually.
The speaker has, in several interactions with media, alleged that he has been asked by “some” of the PTI’s lawmakers to not accept their resignations. Claiming that they have informed him they are being “forced,” he said he could not accept any resignation until he had been satisfied there was no coercion involved.