Resignations of 123 PTI MNAs accepted

ISLAMABAD:

National Assembly Deputy Speaker of Qasim Suri, in his capacity as the acting speaker, on Thursday accepted the resignations of 123 PTI MNAs, who had accepted their party chairman Imran Khan’s appeal after his removal from the office of the prime minister through a no-confidence motion earlier this month.

The former prime minister has been claiming that his exit from the post -- in a dramatic manner after he tried preventing the no-trust motion from being presented in the House on April 9 and only became possible an hour after April 10 had started -- was part of a “foreign conspiracy” plotted in Washington to overthrow his government with the help of the opposition parties.

After his ouster from the slot, the former premier asked his party’s MNAs to tender their resignations and refused to accept the newly elected Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.

Taking to Twitter, Imran lauded his MNAs for tendering their resignations.

"Want to appreciate our 123 MNAs as their resignations have been accepted by Speaker Qasim Suri. Their standing firm for a sovereign Pak & against US-initiated regime change bringing to power criminals, convicted & on bail -- the ultimate insult to any self-respecting indep[endent] nation,” he wrote.

Earlier, the PTI had announced it was resigning from the National Assembly minutes before the scheduled election of the new prime minister, paving the way for PML-N President Shehbaz to secure the coveted slot.

On April 11, Imran had tendered his resignation as a member of the National Assembly, a day after his ouster as the prime minister by the lower house of parliament through a no-confidence vote.

Read President Alvi not to opt for resignation following Imran's ouster

Talking to media, former federal information minister Fawad Chaudhry said he saluted all the members who had resigned from the NA. “These people will come again [to the assembly] soon. No political party is ready to move forward with the PML-N," he added. Fawad further claimed that his party had deep ties with the armed forces. “People who are campaigning against the army cannot be Pakistanis.”

The former minister said the country’s top judge was in possession of the “threat” letter allegedly handed over to a Pakistani diplomat by US Assistant Secretary of State for the South and Central Asian Affairs Donald Lu. The letter purportedly warns Pakistan of “dire consequences” if Imran continued to stay in power.

“A commission should be formed to investigate the matter,” Fawad demanded.

Suri wrote on Twitter that he had received 125 resignations. After examining them, he had had found that 123 of them were genuine with the exception of those of Prince Muhammad Nawaz Allai from NA-12 and Jawwad Hussain from NA-47.

Besides, a total of 31 MNAs of the PTI have refused to tender their resignations. They include 20 from Punjab, four from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, two from Sindh and one from Balochistan. Apart from them, three MNAs on reserved seats for women as well as one from reserved seats for minorities have also refused to resign.

The 31 MNAs include Farrukh Altaf, Afzal Dhandla, Chaudhry Amir Sultan, Ghulam Muhammad Lali, Asim Nazir, Nawab Sher Wasir, Raja Riaz, Riaz Fatyana, Ghulam Bibi Bharwana, Rai Murtaza Iqbal, Ahmed Hussain Deharr, Rana Qasim Noon and Abdul Ghafar Wattoo.

Imran has also submitted a communiqué to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) through party leader Babar Awan.

It read that the PTI was the largest party in the country having representation in all provinces.

It added that the party did not recognise the “imported government” in the country.

The communiqué read that the party had filed references against its dissident lawmakers under Article 63-A and it withdrew the names of all its MNAs on reserved seats for women and minorities.

It informed the ECP that all PTI MNAs had resigned from the lower house of parliament and no party claiming to be its representative should be given the post of the opposition leader or a member of any committee.

It warned that strict action would be taken against those using the party’s s name at any forum.