Resignation validation: PML-N ‘quitters’ refuse to call it quits

MNAs have not appeared before NA speaker to confirm decisions were made under duress

ISLAMABAD: Once again, MNAs who had parted ways with the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) did not show up on Friday to put a stamp of validation on their decisions to resign from the National Assembly (NA).

NA Speaker Ayaz Sadiq had asked the four MNAs including Qasim Noon, Makhdoom Khusro Bakhtiar, Tahir Bashir Cheema, and Makhdoomzada Basit Bokhari to validate their resignations, but they again did not show up, according to an NA spokesperson.

Apart from Noon, the other three MNAs were asked to authenticate their resignations on April 16 but they remained absent, therefore these members have been directed to have their signed and sealed resignations on April 24.

Similarly, there are four other MNAs who have also not submitted their resignations despite announcing they were quitting the ruling party. These parliamentarians include Dr Ramesh Kumar Vankvani, Chaudhry Bilal Ahmed Virk, Bhawan Das, and Rana Umer Nazir Khan.



The term of the current assembly is scheduled to conclude at the end of May. If the MNAs do not certify their resignations, they will continue to enjoy all perks and privileges to which they are entitled including the assembly session allowance, accommodation, and transport.

Interestingly, this is not the first time that MNAs have publically announced their resignations and failed to follow through.

Shaikh Rasheed Ahmad had announced his resignation from the assembly during a Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaaf rally in Lahore, but later changed his mind. Likewise, the PTI also backtracked after announcing that all of its MNAs will resign from their seats in the national assembly. In a remarkably similar turn of events, none of its lawmakers showed up to confirm their resignations when called by the speaker, hence their membership and all allocated perks remained intact.

A spokesperson of the national assembly said the speaker has been following all the rules and procedures in the resignation cases while remaining impartial.

“The NA speaker has been playing the role of a true custodian of the House,” said the spokesperson, adding that Sadiq continues to practice the same democratic norm in the current resignation cases which he followed when the PTI lawmakers tendered their resignations during the sit-in in 2014. “The speaker does not want the people’s mandate to be compromised in any way,” he added.