The Islamabad High Court (IHC) has restored the parliamentary membership of 11 Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) members.
On July 19, National Assembly Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf had accepted the resignations of 11 PTI MNAs, including former human rights minister Shireen Mazari, ex-interior minister Ijaz Ahmed Shah, ex-state minister for parliamentary affairs Ali Muhammad Khan and ex-state minister for information and broadcasting Farrukh Habib under Article 64 (1) of the Constitution.
The other PTI lawmakers whose resignations were accepted included Fazal Muhammad Khan, Shaukat Ali, Fakhar Zaman Khan, Jamil Ahmed Khan, Muhammad Akram Cheema, Abdul Shakoor Shad and Shandana Gulzar Khan.
Mazari and Shandana were elected on the reserved seats for women from Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, respectively.
Later on July 29, the ECP issued notifications regarding the acceptance of the resignations of these eleven MPAs and announced by-elections on the vacant seats.
The PTI had subsequently challenged before the Islamabad High Court the ECP’s decision and announced by-elections against nine general seats from which incumbents had resigned.
Earlier this week, the commission postponed the by-elections, citing flood devastations and unavailability of security forces required to conduct the elections in a safe and secure environment.
However, on Saturday, Islamabad High Court Chief Justice Athar Minallah suspended the ECP’s notification of de-seating the PTI members while adjudicating on PTI MNA Abdul Shakoor Shad’s petition.
Challenging the resignations in the IHC, Shad claimed that he had expressed solidarity with the 123 MNAs who had left their seats but he never resigned.
PTI suspends Abdul Shakoor Shad’s membership
Curiously, PTI Saturday suspended the membership of Shad and issued a show-cause notice to him over his recent remarks and decision to challenge his resignation in the IHC.
PTI’s Sindh chapter claimed in the notice that Shad had submitted his “handwritten resignation letter” and also shared it on his Twitter.
The PTI further claimed that following his resignation, Shad had changed his Twitter bio to former MNA.
It further stated that the Karachi lawmaker had also filed his papers as a covering candidate for PTI Chairman Imran Khan for the NA-246 by-elections.
