LAHORE: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) legislators have decided to appear before National Assembly Speaker Raja Pervez Ashraf to confirm their resignations, JEE News reported on Sunday, quoting sources.
According to sources, the Members of National Assembly (MNAs) will appear before the Speaker on Wednesday or Thursday. Sources say that the final decision on the date will be made by party chairman Imran Khan in a consultation meeting today.
Sources said that this decision was taken on behalf of PTI after not receiving a reply to the letter written by the members to the Speaker of the National Assembly. He further said that party vice-chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi had written a letter to Ashraf a few days ago.
Sources further say that the Speaker of the National Assembly has not yet given time to confirm the resignations of the members of the Assembly.
Speaker accept our resignations, Fawad’s demand
PTI leader Fawad Chaudhry while addressing the press conference said that his party has decided to resign from the national and provincial assemblies. He said that the party members are going to the National Assembly and will once again announce their resignations.
He said that after hearing this, the speaker canceled the assembly session, accept our 123 resignations and hold elections. He also asked for by-elections to the seats of the National Assembly and fresh elections for the provincial assemblies as soon as possible.
“We want the elections to be held on a single date because we don’t have enough budget. Elections should be held on a single day which will cost 40 to 45 billion rupees,” he added.
He said that the Election Commission should start an inquiry into the matter and hold elections, adding that the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) should not use the ECP as its partner.
PTI is asking for time.
PTI leader Fawad Chaudhry had announced on December 15 that the party would seek time from the Speaker National Assembly to confirm the resignations of members of the National Assembly.
Fawad tweeted that “a letter is being written to the Speaker and he is being asked to provide time when the MLAs can once again come to confirm the resignations”. He added that he is seeking time for confirmation so that fresh elections can be held on the vacant seats.
The former information minister said that remarks were made in the Supreme Court that PTI MNAs are not coming to the assembly but are taking salaries.
Judges must verify media reports. The reality is that this is another lie of the government. The salaries of the resigning members have been withheld and no member is receiving salary.
Fawad’s tweet came when Supreme Court Justice Mansoor Ali Shah, while hearing PTI’s petition on NAB amendments, said that although PTI legislators are not going to the National Assembly, they are receiving their salaries. are
He also observed that the Islamabad High Court had asked the PTI MLAs to appear before the Speaker of the National Assembly.
Messages from MNAs
Ashraf had said last week that PTI legislators were giving him messages not to accept the resignation.
The Speaker said that such situations required a lot of deliberation, adding that he would not accept the resignation until he was satisfied.
He said that there is a process of accepting resignations with some rules and regulations. “If a legislator makes a statement regarding his resignation and I know he has done so under duress, I will not accept it.”
Resign.
PTI lawmakers had resigned en masse after Imran Khan’s government was toppled by a no-confidence motion in April.
PTI has claimed that after the resignation of Asad Qaiser, former Deputy Speaker Qasim Suri had accepted the resignations in the absence of the Speaker.
However, after Raja Pervez Ashraf was elected Speaker, he decided to confirm the resignations by interviewing the legislators individually.
Later, the resignations of PTI members were unsealed and Raja accepted only 11 of them.
