ISLAMABAD: A delegation of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), which called on Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, speaker of the National Assembly, on Thursday to discuss the acceptance of resignations tendered by the party MPs, was told opposition lawmakers were required by Constitution to individually confirm the verification of the letters.
More than 120 MPs loyal to Imran Khan resigned en masse on April 11, two days after he was removed as the prime minister following a contentious vote of no-confidence marred by unprobed allegations of military intervention.
Former deputy speaker of the National Assembly, Qasim Suri — a PTI lawmaker who was performing his duties as acting speaker after then-incumbent Asad Qaiser’s resignation — accepted the resignation letters on April 15.
However, once Ashraf, a Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) stalwart, was elected as the speaker, he decided to verify the resignations by interviewing MPs individually, but instead ended up stalling the entire process by blaming it on their reluctance to step down.
“The law dictates that even if a member says in [speaker’s] presence they want to resign but I have information that they are under pressure [sic], I should not accept their resignation,” he said earlier this month.
The delegation comprised Suri, Malik Amir Dogar, Amjad Khan Niazi, Faheem Khan, Amjad Khan Niazi, Shabbir Khan Lal, Ataullah Niazi and Tahir Iqbal visited the speaker, and was led by Qaiser.
According to a press statement released after the meeting, the speaker said a decision regarding the confirmation of resignation letters would be taken as per the Constitution and the rules governing the National Assembly.
He noted that PTI lawmakers had previously been invited to confirm the resignations to no avail. He said that a party legislator, Abdul Shakoor Shad, had also approached the high court of Islamabad to block the acceptance of his resignation, according to the statement.
“Doors should not be closed [on lawmakers] in politics. There should be communication between politicians,” the statement quoted the speaker as saying. Ashraf also reiterated that each opposition MP will have to personally confirm his intention to resign.
But Qaiser said that the one-by-one acceptance of resignations was “not acceptable [to the party] under any circumstances”.
Speaking to the press after the meeting, he said: “One MNA will come, [then] the rest will go somewhere outside [of the city and] they will call the second [MNA] after 15-20 days. This will take time [so], this would not happen.”
He asserted that the party’s resignations should be accepted collectively.
The development came after Malik Aamir Dogar, chief whip of the party, contacted the speaker to arrange the meeting.
