Resignations accepted in accordance with Article 64 of Constitution.
Summary sent to ECP to de-notify PTI lawmakers.
Seventy PTI resignations have been accepted this week.
ISLAMABAD: The political uncertainty continues in Pakistan after the National Assembly Speaker Raja Pervaiz on Friday accepted the resignations of 35 more Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) MNAs.
The PTI had resigned from the lower house of parliament after the ouster of PTI chief Imran Khan in April 2022.
According to a press release issued by the National Assembly Secretariat, the resignations were accepted in accordance with clause (1) of Article 64 of the Constitution and rules of procedure and conduct of Business in the NA.
“In accordance with clause (1) of Article 64 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, read with Rule 43 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the National Assembly of Pakistan 2007, the Hon’ble Speaker of the National Assembly of Pakistan has been pleased to accept the resignations of the following Members of the National Assembly with effect from April 11, 2022, the date when the letter of respective resignations was submitted,” said the statement.
The resignations had been accepted with effect from 11 April 2022, the date when the letters of respective resignations were submitted, said Radio Pakistan.
Following the approval of the resignations, the summary was sent to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to de-notify the PTI lawmakers.
Here’s the list of PTI lawmakers whose resignations have been accepted:
S.No
Name
Constituency
01
Dr Haider Ali Khan
NA-2
02
Saleem Rehman
NA-3
03
Sahibzada Sibghatullah
NA-5
04
Mehboob Shah
NA-6
05
Muhammad Bashir Khan
NA-7
06
Junaid Akbar
NA-8
07
Sher Akbar Khan
NA-9
08
Ali Khan Jadoon
NA-16
09
Engr Usman Khan Tarakai
NA-19
10
Mujahid Ali
NA-20
11
Arbab Amir Ayub
NA-28
12
Sher Ali Arbab
NA-30
13
Shahid Ahmed
NA-34
14
Gul Dad Khan
NA-40
15
Sajid Khan
NA-42
16
Mohammad Iqbal Khan
NA-44
17
Aamer Mehmood Kiani
NA-61
18
Syed Faiz ul Hassan
NA-70
19
Chaudhry Shoukat Ali Bhatti
NA-87
20
Umar Aslam Khan
NA-93
21
Amjad Ali Khan
NA-96
22
Khurram Shahzad
NA-107
23
Faizullah
NA-109
24
Malik Karamat Ali Khokhar
NA-135
25
Syed Fakhar Imam
NA-150
26
Zahoor Hussain Qureshi
NA-152
27
Ibraheem Khan
NA-158
28
Tahir Iqbal
NA-164
29
Aurangzeb Khan Khichi
NA-165
30
Makhdoom Khusro Bakhtiar
NA-177
31
Abdul Majeed Khan
NA-187
32
Andaleeb Abbas
Reserved seat
33
Asma Qadeer
Reserved seat
34
Maleeka Ali Bokhari
Reserved seat
35
Munawara Bibi Baloch
Reserved seat
Earlier, Ashraf had stalled the process of accepting resignations after July 28 stating the remaining lawmakers would be summoned individually for verification.
However, contrary to his claims he quickened the process by accepting the resignations of 34 PTI MNAs and Awami Muslim League chief Sheikh Rashid earlier this week after an eight-month hiatus.
Soon after the PTI announced its return to the assembly and test the PM through a no-trust move, the government so far accepted 70 PTI resignations during the current week only.
Around 131 MNAs of the PTI had tendered their resignations en masse after Imran Khan’s government was ousted through a no-confidence motion in April last year.
By July 28, 2022, the NA speaker had accepted the resignations of only 11 PTI lawmakers.
PTI calls govt’s move ‘illegal and immoral’
Speaking to the media outside the Parliament House, senior PTI leaders said the speaker retracted from his old stance by accepting the resignations of 35 more PTI lawmakers today.
Asad Qaiser, Asad Umar, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Fawad Chaudhry and others termed the government’s move “illegal and immoral”.
Former National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser condemned the decision and revealed that Ashraf had called the PTI leaders to the assembly and told them that the resignations would not be accepted unless he had a word with the MNAs himself separately.
“Were those whose resignations were accepted called by the Speaker?”Qaiser asked.
Berating the speaker’s decision, PTI Senior Vice President Fawad Chaudhry said now that 81 resignations were accepted, the government must also give a date for the general elections.
Expressing his displeasure over the decision, the PTI leader blamed Islamabad for the political and economic crises in the country.
“We are heading towards a Sri Lanka-like situation,” Chaudhry claimed.
PTI Vice Chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi said that the speaker first said that he cannot accept the resignations collectively.
“We decided to come to the meeting and he [the speaker] postponed it and when we came to the assembly, he accepted the resignations of 35 more MNAs,” said Qureshi, demanding that the rest of the resignations should also be accepted.
The party’s vice chairman said that the PTI wants snap polls so that the people can decide for themselves.
On Monday, the 26th amendment was ratified by President Asif Ali Zardari, bringing the 1973 Constitution of Pakistan up to date.
Following days of negotiations between the opposition and the Treasury, the amendment was finally approved by the National Assembly and the Senate on Sunday night.
The prime minister signed the recommendation to be forwarded to the president of Pakistan for confirmation following the amendment’s approval by both chambers of the legislature.
Following its implementation, the amendment’s notification was also released.
Recall that a legislative committee will select Pakistan’s top justice following the amendment’s implementation.
A “forward bloc” made up of four to five members of the National Assembly appears to be an unexpected indication of disunity within Jamiat-Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F), according to sources who spoke with Dunya News.
The 26th constitutional amendment package is reportedly the subject of four to five JUI-F lawmakers who have formed a “forward bloc.”
Jamiat-Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) central head Aslam Ghori, however, has reportedly disputed the existence of any advance faction inside the party.
Each of their eight MNAs and five senators are in communication, he continued, adding. The leadership of JUI-F is in contact with all of them. Still, no one was reaching out to our lone senator, Abdul Shakoor.
The head of JUI-F has previously claimed that his MNAs were being intimidated and harassed in interviews with the press.
Speaking on the kidnapping of one of his party members and the intimidation of another, he bemoaned the harassment of JUI-F and BNP members.
The administration is intimidating our Members of Parliament while simultaneously having discussions on a package of constitutional amendments.
Fazl declared, “We will be forced to give consultation process on the issue if the government continues with such tactics.”
As stated by the assembly secretariat, today’s (Friday) National Assembly (NA) session has been postponed until 6 p.m.
The meeting, which Speaker Ayaz Sadiq was to lead at 11 a.m., has been postponed, according to the National Assembly Secretariat.
Under Rule 49, the National Assembly speaker’s time was modified, as announced by the secretariat.
An eight-point agenda itemised by the secretariat has also been made public. Nonetheless, the 26th constitutional amendment bill’s introduction is not on the agenda.
You might remember that since last month, the Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N)-led coalition government has been working to get the constitutional amendment approved.
In the absence of agreement on the 26th amendment to the Constitution, the administration was unable to secure the necessary two-thirds majority, leading to the National Assembly’s indefinite adjournment on September 16.