ISLAMABAD: After National Assembly Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf reneged from his earlier stance of not accepting the resignations of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) lawmakers, the senior leadership of the party on Friday changed their tone and termed the move as illegal and immoral.
Speaking at a presser, minutes after the NA Speaker accepted the resignations of yet another 35 MNAs, the PTI vice chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi, ex-NA speaker Asad Qaiser, Fawad Chaudhry, Asad Umar and others, strongly condemned the acceptance of the resignations.
The NA speaker accepted the resignations of 35 more PTI lawmakers in a bid to scuttle PTI chief Imran Khan’s bid to test Prime Minster Shehbaz Sharif through a trust vote and claim a role in the appointment of caretaker prime minister — according to the constitution, the opposition leader is consulted for the selection of interim prime minister.
A total of 70 resignations were accepted this week after PTI chairman Imran Khan announced to return to the assembly.
PTI vice chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi, condemning the Speaker’s move, questioned whether he ensured the implementation of Supreme Court orders regarding the resignations tendered by the PTI MPs. He said the party lawmakers wanted to visit the speaker in person to submit and verify their resignations. However, “we were not provided with the opportunity, which is immoral and illegal on part of the speaker”.
Qureshi said that the NA speaker first said that he could not accept the resignations collectively and now he has started accepting the resignations, which is illegal. “We decided to come to the meeting and the speaker postponed it and when we came to the assembly, he accepted the resignations of 35 more MNAs.”
Qureshi called out the government for what he said was ignoring the plight of the people, alleging it would try to hold on to power until all graft cases against its leaders were quashed.
He demanded the speaker accept all the remaining resignations to end the crisis, adding the elections were the only way out of the prevailing situation.
Fawad Chaudhry berated the speaker’s decision and asked about the PTI MNAs who the speaker had claimed were in touch with him regarding their resignations.
He said that about 81 resignations have been accepted. He demanded a date for the upcoming general elections, adding the incumbent regime just represents 36 percent of the country.
“The decisions taken behind closed doors have brought the country to this juncture. All of our MNAs are outside National Assembly and we want our resignations accepted,” he added.
He blamed the coalition government of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) for the political and economic crisis in the country, saying “we are certainly heading towards a Sri Lanka like situation”.
Speaking on the occasion, PTI secretary general Asad Umar said that the speaker’s move proved that he is not a custodian of the house, adding that the MNAs went to the parliament only to find that the whole staff is unavailable including the speaker, deputy speaker, secretary, and deputy secretary.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023