Shah Mahmood Qureshi urges Raja Pervaiz Ashraf to summon PTI lawmakers next week to re-confirm, verify resignations tendered in April this year.
ISLAMABAD - The opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Thursday once again called upon Speaker National Assembly Raja Pervaiz Ashraf to immediately accept all remaining resignations of its MNAs “without any further delay or excuse.”
PTI Vice Chairman and Deputy Parliamentary Leader of the Party in the National Assembly Shah Mahmood Qureshi, in a letter to the speaker, urged him to summon his party lawmakers next week to re-confirm and verify their resignations tendered in April this year.
Qureshi made the move a day after PTI Chairman and former prime minister Imran Khan in a public announcement had instructed all MNAs of his party to appear in the NA to ask the speaker to accept their resignations. He had also said that he would announce the final date of dissolution of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa assemblies on upcoming Saturday to force the government to announce early elections.
PTI vice chairman, in his letter to the speaker, stated that the party MNAs could return to the lower house of the Parliament for verification of their resignations. He underlined that there was no need for any further action from their side, especially given the consistent public position taken by the party leadership and the individual members of Parliament in respect of these resignation letters. Even then, “We could agree a time with you during the next week when we can come to the National Assembly and re-confirm resignations tendered by our members of the National Assembly (MNAs),” he added.
He wrote that after the conspiracy to remove former prime minister Khan illegally and unconstitutionally from his office, 123 members of PTI MNAs tendered en masse resignations on the floor of the house on 11th April this year. “I made an unequivocal verbal announcement of the decision for all party members to resign from National Assembly seats with the clear approval and agreement of 123 MNAs who were present on the floor,” he added.
In the letter, Qureshi pointed out that 123 PTI MNAs submitted written resignations to former Deputy Speaker Qasim Suri the same day. “The lawmakers had submitted resignations as per constitution and assembly rules,” the letter added. “The resignations were accepted by the then Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly on April 13, 2022,” it noted, adding that Secretary NA Tahir Hussain had also issued a notification in this regard.
However, he said that in a clear attempt by the current government to avoid general elections in the country, the clear order of the former deputy speaker was not implemented. “Later, only 11 resignations were accepted illegally on July 28,” it stated.
“It remains unclear on what legal basis could your office selectively de-seat some of the members of the NA instead of all the members who had tendered their resignations at the same time and similar manner,” the letter reads. The letter accused the speaker of using his position to give political advantage to the government. “We once again formally request you (speaker) to verify the remaining resignations without any delay,” Qureshi said, hoping that Ashraf would not delay the matter any further.