Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) lawmakers have decided to resign from the assemblies, former information minister Fawad Chaudhry announced on Sunday, adding that the process will start from the National Assembly (NA) after the election of the prime minister tomorrow.
The announcement comes after Imran Khan was removed from premiership through a no-confidence vote in the early hours of Sunday.
A meeting of the PTI core committee chaired by Imran Khan was held in Bani Gala earlier on Sunday, where the party's future course of action was discussed.
Following the meeting, Fawad told reporters that the core committee recommended to Khan that the PTI should resign from the assemblies starting with the NA.
National Assembly to elect Pakistan prime minister on Monday
"If our objections on Shehbaz Sharif's [nomination] papers are not addressed, then we will resign tomorrow," he said.
Fawad said that it was insulting that Shehbaz would be contesting the election for the prime minister on the same day he is to be indicted in a money-laundering case.
"What can be more insulting for Pakistan that a foreign selected and foreign imported government is imposed on it and a person like Shehbaz is made its head," he said.
Earlier, a special court (Central) had dismissed an application of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) seeking the cancellation of the pre-arrest bail of PML-N president Shehbaz Sharif in a money laundering case and summoned all the suspects for indictment on April 11.
It is pertinent to mention here that FIA had booked the Leader of the Opposition in NA and his sons, Hamza and Suleman, under sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act and read with Section 3/4 of the Anti-Money Laundering Act.
The session of the National Assembly to elect a new Leader of the House will meet on Monday at 2 pm.
Meanwhile, PTI Vice-chairperson Shah Mahmood Qureshi submitted nomination papers for the election of prime minister.
PTI’s Maleeka Bokhari and Amir Dogar submitted the nomination papers on his behalf.
The decision to nominate Qureshi for the prime minister’s slot was made during the meeting of the party’s core committee headed by Khan.
The high drama that had gripped the country for the last few weeks ended an hour past midnight on Sunday as the opposition’s no-trust motion against Imran succeeded with 174 members in a 342-member strong house voting in favour of the motion.
Plea seeking cancellation of Shehbaz’s bail dismissed
After the vote on the motion, Ayaz Sadiq of PML-N, who was chairing the session, announced that officially, 174 members of the National Assembly have voted in favour of the no-confidence motion. Sadiq did not cast his vote.
Earlier, Speaker Qaiser said he resigned in a show of his strong loyalty to his leader – Imran Khan, who had shared with him the “threat letter” that the government had purportedly received from the US.