10 PTI ex-MNAs approach IHC over acceptance of resignations
ISLAMABAD, Oct 05 (SABAH): In the latest political move, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) approached on Wednesday the Islamabad High Court (IHC) through a petition filed against the approval of the resignations tendered by the party lawmakers following Imran Khan’s ouster as prime minister. The bye-election on 8 general seats of National Assembly are going to be held on 16th October.
The Islamabad High Court (IHC) has fixed for hearing a petition filed by 10 former Members of National Assembly belonging to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) over acceptance of resignations.
According to details, Chief Justice of IHC Justice Athar Minallah will conduct hearing on the plea today (Thursday).
The plea submitted by PTI lawmakers Engineer Ali Muhammad Khan, Fazal Muhammad Khan, Shaukat Ali, Fakhar Zaman Khan, Farrukh Habib, Brigadier (retd) Ijaz Ahmed Shah, Captain (retd) Jamil Ahmed Khan, Muhammad Akram Cheema, Dr. Shireen Mehrunnisa Mazari and Shandana Gulzar Khan requested the court to instruct the Speaker of National Assembly Raja Pervaiz Ashraf to fulfill his responsibility by accepting the resignations of the all members.
It was also submitted in the court that the NA speaker should call the members to confirm that the members have resigned as per their will under Article 64. It is also said in the petition that the resignations were tendered as political move for forcing the government hold fresh elections. The petition also states that the IHC has already suspended the notification of Election Commission of Pakistan denotifying PTI MNA Abdul Shakoor Shad. The petition said that the IHC had restored Abdul Shakoor Shad as MNA.
The joint petition, filed by 10 out of the 11 lawmakers, states that the NA speaker “unlawfully” declared them as having resigned, which led to the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) notification to de-seat them.
The petitioners maintained that the PTI MNAs tendered their resignations as per party policy on political grounds with the objective of reaching an agreement with the then “opposition parties for holding fresh elections so that a new government may be formed with a real mandate” of people.
Moreover, the petitioners submitted the records and transcript of the audio leaks regarding the PTI resignations that surfaced on September 25.
The plea stated that Prime Minister Mian Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif, cabinet members and PML-N leaders were heard taking approval for accepting the resignations from PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif. They said the government did not deny the audio leaks, but owned it on September 27, which backs the PTI’s stance that the resignations were not properly processed.
The petitioners requested the court to direct the NA speaker to summon “112 MNAs” and petitioners for an inquiry whether the resignations were “voluntary and genuine”, and fulfilled the criteria laid out under Article 64 of the constitution.
The party appealed to the court to declare the speaker and ECP’s order on their seats “illegal”, issued “without lawful authority and of no legal effect. They also stated that the orders were in violation of the Constitution and the law settled by the Supreme Court.
The PTI had appealed to the IHC to hold immediate hearing of their case. However, the request was turned down and the court decided to hold a hearing today (Thursday).
It is pertinent to mention here that the PTI members resigned en masse after the no-confidence motion against Imran Khan succeeded and ousted him from the Prime Minister’s office.
All the PTI MNAs resigned en masse on April 11, two days after PTI Chairman Imran Khan was ousted as the prime minister through a no-confidence motion moved by the then-opposition. Former deputy speaker Qasim Khan Suri — who was performing his duties as acting NA speaker after Asad Qaiser resignation — had accepted all the resignations on April 15.
However, once Raja Pervaiz Ashraf was elected as the speaker, he decided to verify the resignations by interviewing lawmakers individually.
Later, the resignations of PTI members were de-sealed and Raja Perez Ashraf accepted 11 of them.