30 PTI lawmakers reluctant to resign

ISLAMABAD:

The ruling coalition has formulated a strategy on the matter of en masse resignation of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) lawmakers from the National Assembly (NA) and agreed to proceed with phase-wise acceptance.

Sources told The Express Tribune that the coalition partners decided to go ahead with the gradual and ‘cautious’ approval of the resignations with the formal proceedings likely to begin on June 6.

They said that the government is currently trying to persuade 25 to 30 lawmakers to reconsider their resignations, for which the coalition partners will contact some hesitant PTI lawmakers.

Parliamentary sources disclosed that about 30 members of the former ruling party did not want to resign from the legislature and added that these lawmakers can directly reach out to the NA speaker to stop the acceptance of their resignations.

Sources also said that resignations of MNAs, including former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, who announced their departure on the floor of the lower house, will be accepted. Whether they come for confirmation or not, their resignations will be accepted, they added.

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According to sources, the NA staff is reviewing the record of speeches of three to four more members, including Asad Qaiser, Qasim Suri and Asad Umar.

National Assembly Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf is set to begin the process of verification of the resignations of 131 members belonging to the PTI and Awami Muslim League (AML) from June 6 as the NA Secretariat on Monday sent notices to the lawmakers, asking them to appear in person before the speaker to testify that they had submitted their resignations voluntarily and not under duress.

The confusion around resignations

The former ruling party resigned en masse from the lower house after their government was ousted in a vote of no-confidence – the first time the motion succeeded in the parliament.

Their resignations were accepted by Deputy Speaker Suri on April 14, who made the decision in his capacity as the acting chairman.

However, the succeeding government made it clear that the resignations could not be considered valid unless they were verified, and recently, the NA Secretariat sent letters to all those who resigned on April 11. In light of Paragraph (b) of Sub Rule (2) of Rule 43 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the National Assembly, 2007, each lawmaker would get five minutes to individually confirm if they resigned voluntarily.

Former prime minister Imran Khan has already termed this move as a “major trap”.

Ashraf’s ruling has opened up the chapter of the resignation once again and it is being conjectured that the process of verification would ‘deliberately’ take some time to give the newly-formed government some time to settle down.

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

Sadiq said that the verification afresh was crucial as the resignations that have so far been 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.

Meanwhile, speculations were also swirling that after nearly two months the PTI was reconsidering its decision to quit the assembly.