Speaker summons 131 PTI MNAs to verify resignations

ISLAMABAD:

National Assembly Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf is all set to begin meeting 131 lawmakers of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), who resigned from their assembly seats, to verify if their resignations were “genuine and voluntary”.

The said PTI members have been invited individually for verification of their resignations. The letters have been sent to 131 PTI members and the verification process will start on June 6, 2022, and will continue till June 10, 2022. As per the system devised, every MNA will get five minutes to confirm if their resignations were voluntary and genuine.

The NA Secretariat has sent letters to all PTI members who tendered resignations on April 11, 2022. The speaker has invited MNAs in pursuance of Paragraph (b) of Sub Rule (2) of Rule 43 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the National Assembly, 2007.

On April 16, the NA speaker had directed the assembly secretariat to deal with the resignations of PTI lawmakers afresh and present them before him so that they could be treated as per law. The ruling had come amid claims and speculations that some of the PTI lawmakers were now not willing to resign and were conveying messages that their resignations should not be accepted.

The speaker’s direction had come days after former deputy speaker Qasim Khan Suri’s ruling through which he had accepted the resignations of the PTI lawmakers after they resigned en masse from the assembly in protest over alleged “foreign interference” which ousted ex-prime minister Imran Khan.

Ashraf’s ruling had opened up the chapter of the resignation once again and it was being conjectured that the process of verification would “deliberately” take some time to give the newly formed government a breather to settle down.

The issue of the PTI lawmakers wanting to take back their resignation surfaced after PML-N leader Ayaz Sadiq revealed on the floor of the house that several PTI MNAs had called him to convey that their resignations should not be accepted as they were given under pressure.

PTI lawmakers approached Sadiq as he has been presiding over the sessions since former NA speaker Asad Qaiser resigned followed by the PTI lawmakers amid political turmoil, which gripped the country for weeks.

Sadiq said that the verification afresh was crucial as the resignations that were given were on cyclostyle papers when the rules state that they should be in the members’ own handwriting. Secondly, he said, individual verification has not taken place, which is an imperative part of the process.

“I’m fasting; standing beneath the names of Allah [in the assembly]; I have got calls from several members; honorable colleagues from the PTI, who are not sitting here, saying that we don’t want to resign as we have been pressurised and burdened,” Sadiq had said.

He had added that he was saying it under oath and wanted to bring it to the knowledge of Ashraf because the process of verification would be important for him.

The Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the National Assembly, 2007, mandate “personal appearance and verification” and the speaker had to verify and inquire whether the resignation was “genuine and voluntary”.

Under Clause (2) (a) of Rule 43 (resignation of seat), a member had to hand over the letter of resignation to the speaker personally and inform him that the resignation was voluntary and genuine and the speaker had no information or knowledge to the contrary.

Legal experts say that Article 224 (4) (time of election and by-election) of the Constitution, made it mandatory to hold by-elections on vacant seats within 60 days.

Article 224 (4) states: “When, except by dissolution of the National Assembly or a provincial assembly, a seat in any such assembly has become vacant not later than 120 days before the term of that assembly is due to expire, an election to fill the seat shall be held within 60 days from the occurrence of the vacancy.”