Suspension of resignations of 43 PTI MNAs: NA Speaker says his office yet to get LHC order

ISLAMABAD: National Assembly Speaker, Raja Pervaiz Ashraf said on Thursday that his office is yet to get the Lahore High Court’s order – in which the court suspended resignations of 43 Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) MNAs – and maintained the future course of action would be determined only after the order is received.

The PTI resigned en masse from NA last year in April, the speaker was reluctant to accept their resignations under one pretext or another.

However, Ashraf accepted the resignations after PTI Chief Imran Khan hinted at going back to the parliament, saying his party did not want the incumbent opposition leader in NA Raja Riaz, a PTI dissident, to become part of the talks for finalising a caretaker set up with the prime minister if elections are called.

With this the NA speaker accepted the resignations of PTI, which he had withheld for several months, leaving some 43 PTI MNAs to approach the court against the NA speaker’s decision as they had initiated him in writing about withdrawing their resignations.

44 PTI MNAs to withdraw resignation from NA: Asad Umar

However, on Wednesday, the LHC suspended the de-notification orders of 43 party MNAs and issued notices to the federal government and the electoral body.

Ashraf while talking to journalists said that he had not received the LHC’s order nor was it in his knowledge, adding the “order is not with us and we can’t read it or go into the details.”

He said that the government was only made a “party” in the case, which he claimed they “heard on television and have not received the notice.” “I believe that once the decision comes and we read it … we will consult our lawyers and experts and then decide the way forward,” he added.

On the other hand, the PTI MNAs,Ghazal Saifi, Sajida Begum, Rai Murtaza Iqbal, Nusrat Wahid, Shanila Ruth, Asma Hamid,and Jai Parkash — whose resignations have been suspended arrived at Parliament House on Thursday morning with an aim to “bring in our own opposition leader.”

The 43 PTI MNAs who would be back in the house included, Riaz Fatyana, Nasrullah Dreshak, Tahir Sadiq, Zulfiqar Ali Khan, Haji Imtiaz Chaudhry, Ehsan Ullah Tiwana, Raza Nasrullah, Mehboob Sultan, Ameer Sultan, Rai Murtaza Iqbal, Muhammad Shafiq, Farooq Azam Malik, Javed Iqbal Warakh, Shabbir Ali Qureshi, Niaz Ahmed, Khwaja Sheraz Mehmood, Sardar Mohammad Khan Leghari, Rukhsana Naveed, Seemin Bukhari, Munaza Hassan, Nusrat Wahid, FauziaBehram, Tashfeen Safdar, Lal Chand, Jai Parkash, Jamshed Thomas, Malik Anwar Taj, Mohammad Yaqoob Sheikh, Ghazala Saifi, Syma Nadeem, Naureen Farooque Khan, Uzma Riaz, Shaheen Niaz Saifullah, Gul Zafar Khan, Jawad Hussain, Rahat Amanullah Bhatti, Sobia Kamal Khan, Nausheed Hamid, Rubina Jamil, Nafeesa Inayatullah Khattak, Sajida Zulfiqar, Zile Huma, and Shunila Ruth.

Meanwhile, the sources said Tahir Sadiq and Riaz Fatyana have emerged as strong contenders for the top slot of opposition leader in the National Assembly.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023