ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) approached the Islamabad High Court (IHC) to contest the approval of the resignations tendered by its lawmakers following the ouster of Imran Khan as prime minister.
The party resigned en masse from the National Assembly on April 11, two days after Khan was removed through a no-confidence motion. Former deputy speaker of the National Assembly, Qasim Suri — who was performing his duties as acting NA speaker after Asad Qaiser’s resignation — accepted the resignation letters on April 15.
However, once Raja Pervez Ashraf was elected as the speaker, he decided to verify the resignations by interviewing lawmakers individually.
Later, the resignations were de-sealed and Ashraf accepted 11 of them.
The joint petition, filed by 10 out of the 11 MPs, states that the speaker “unlawfully” declared them as having resigned, which led to the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) notification to de-seat them.
The petitioners requested the court to direct the NA speaker to summon “112 MPs” and petitioners for an inquiry whether the resignations were “voluntary and genuine”, and fulfilled the criteria laid out under Article 64 of the constitution.
The party appealed to the court to declare the speaker and ECP’s order on their seats “illegal”, issued “without lawful authority and of no legal effect. They also stated that the orders were in violation of the Constitution and the law settled by the Supreme Court.
The IHC on September 6, dismissed a similar plea filed by PTI leader Asad Umar on the party’s behalf, which sought the acceptance of PTI MPs in one go.
IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah heard the case filed by the PTI challenging the acceptance of resignations of 11 MPs and not accepting a “piece-meal” resignation of all 123 lawmakers.
Justice Minallah declared Suri’s resignation acceptance order void and ordered every MP to appear before the speaker in person to get their resignation accepted.
