Resignations not on PTI meeting agenda

CEC meeting agenda does not include this as a talking point

ISLAMABAD: Regardless of public reiteration to support AML Chief Sheikh Rashid’s announcement of resigning from his National Assembly seat during a public gathering in Lahore, the PTI has no plan, at least in the near future, to quit parliament it has been cursing openly.

The PTI on Monday circulated among its parliamentarians the agenda of party’s central executive committee meeting scheduled to be held on Tuesday (today) that does not include any such item to be discussed in the committee.

Earlier, a party spokesperson had announced that the PTI would hold general discussion over the issue of en masse resignation from parliament in the CEC meeting on January 23.



On January 17, while addressing a news conference in Islamabad, the PTI chief had himself claimed that ‘debate over resignation from parliament is on within the party, but any final decision to this effect would be taken following discussion’.

A senior PTI leader said the agenda released for the CEC meeting includes review on the progress of the ongoing membership drive, progress made by recently established Election Cell of the party, etc.

Head of the PTI Election Cell Arbab Shahzad will inform the CEC about party’s preparations about the next general elections. Shahzad is a former chief secretary of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and the PTI had forwarded his name as its nominee for the slot of Chairman NAB.

“At this stage, an overwhelming majority of the PTI lawmakers are against tendering resignations from parliament. It will be a futile exercise that will serve no purpose,” a senior PTI lawmaker said.

He said there were some voices within the party who support the move but they were in minority and not part of parliament.

“There are chances that the issue might be discussed on the sidelines of the CEC meeting, but it’s not part of the agenda,” he said, adding there was no formal discussion yet within the senior party leadership in this regard.



“Not at all. It’s not part of [the] discussion at any level,” PTI’s Shafqat Mehmood said in his short comment when asked about the matter.

“We should resign if all the provincial assemblies resign and government falls, otherwise it makes no sense,” another PTI MNA commented adding PTI would not commit any such mistake this time around.

Recently, PTI chairman Imran Khan had created ripples in the country’s politics when he claimed in his news conference that a debate was going on within the PTI over the option of tendering resignations from parliament, adding a final decision had not been taken yet.