ISLAMABAD: National Assembly Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf has declared that members of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), who have resigned, would not be allowed to participate in National Assembly proceedings, following consultation with constitutional experts.
The Election Commission’s notification regarding the resignations of PTI members has been suspended by the Sindh High Court, confirmed by the National Assembly spokesperson.
However, the spokesperson also clarified that the Sindh High Court had not yet made a decision regarding the Speaker’s ruling on the eligibility of the resigned PTI members to participate in National Assembly proceedings.
The NA spokesperson stated that, in accordance with the rules of the National Assembly, resigned members of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) were now considered out of the National Assembly and were not allowed to enter the House. Similarly, the rules also prohibit the entry of strangers into the National Assembly.
A day earlier, PTI Karachi’s nine members of the National Assembly had decided to attend the NA session.
Aftab Siddiqui, President PTI Karachi chapter, had wrote a letter addressed to Speaker, National Assembly Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, intimating him, that the nine PTI MNAs from Karachi will attend the lower house session scheduled on April 26 (tomorrow).
“We have right to attend the assembly’s session, after suspension of the Speaker’s order,” the letter read. “The Speaker’s notification is not required after the Sindh High Court’s ruling,” according to the letter. “We will protest and initiate legal proceedings, if prevented from attending the National Assembly session,” PTI sources have said.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) succeeded in gaining temporary relief from the Sindh High Court (SHC) in March as the court suspended an ECP notification of accepting the resignations of nine MNAs of the party. SHC Chief Justice Ahmed Ali Shaikh headed a two-member bench that heard the pleas of the PTI lawmakers against acceptance of their resignations.
