PTI’s assembly strength further diminished

ISLAMABAD:

National Assembly Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf on Friday accepted the resignations of 35 more PTI MNAs after which the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) de-notified them, bringing the total to 80, while 43 lawmakers of the party still await his nod.

On Tuesday, the speaker had accepted the resignations of 34 PTI lawmakers as well as that of Awami Muslim League (AML) chief Sheikh Rashid and they too were de-notified.

This was in addition to the 11 PTI MNAs, whose resignations were accepted last year.

The freshly accepted resignations include those of Aamer Mehmood Kiani (NA-61), Abdul Majeed Khan (NA-187), Ali Khan Jadoon (NA-16), Amjad Ali Khan (NA-96), Andaleeb Abbas (reserved seat), Arbab Amir Ayub (NA-28), Asma Qadeer (reserved seat), Aurangzeb Khan Khichi (NA-165), Chaudhry Shoukat Ali Bhab (NA-87), Faizullah (NA-109), Gul Dad Khan (NA-40), Dr Haider Ali Khan (NA-2), Ibraheem Khan (NA-158), Junaid Akbar (NA-8), Khurram Shahzad (NA-107), Makhdoom Khusro Bakhtiar (NA-177), Maleeka Ali Bokhari (reserved seat), Malik Karamat Ali Khokhar (NA-135), Mehboob Shah (NA-6), Mohammad Iqbal Khan (NA-44), Muhammad Bashir Khan (NA-7), Mujahid Ali (NA-20), Munawara Bibi Baloch (reserved seat), Sahibzada Sibghatullah (NA-5), Sajid Khan (NA-42), Saleem Rehman (NA-3), Shahid Ahmed (NA-34), Sher Akbar Khan (NA-9), Sher Ali Arbab (NA-30), Faiz ul Hassan (NA-70), Fakhar Imam (NA-150), Tahir Iqbal (NA-164), Umar Aslam Khan (NA-93),  Usman Khan Tarakai (NA-19), and Zahoor Hussain Qureshi (NA-152).

Separately, the ECP on Friday also issued a list of PTI MNAs, who were de-notified with immediate effect.

They included Murad Saeed, Omar Ayub Khan, Asad Qaiser, Pervaiz Khattak, Imran Khattak, Sheharyar Afridi, Ali Amin Khan, Noorul Haq Qadri, Raja Khurram Shahzad Nawaz, Ali Nawaz Awan, Asad Umar, Sadaqat Ali Khan, Ghulam Sarwar Khan, Sheikh Rashid Shafique, Mansoor Hayat Khan, Fawad Ahmed, Sanaullah Khan Mastikhel, Hammad Azhar, Shafqat Mahmood, Malik Muhammad Amir Dogar, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Zartaj Gul, Faheem Khan, Saifur Rehman, Alamgir Khan, Ali Haider Zaidi, Aftab Hussain Saddique, Ataullah, Aftab Jehangir, Muhammad Aslam Khan, Muhammad Najeeb Haroon and Qasim Khan Suri.
Two PTI MNAs elected on reserved seats — Aliya Hamza Malik and Kanwal Shauzab — were de-notified as well.

In addition to the 34 PTI lawmakers, the ECP also de-notified AML chief Rashid.
The move comes in the wake of PTI chairman and deposed premier Imran Khan’s recent announcement that his party’s lawmakers were returning to the NA so that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif could take a vote of confidence from the House.

The PTI MNAs had resigned en masse on April 11 last year -- two days after Imran was ousted from the post of the premier through a no-confidence vote.
However, the NA speaker had accepted only 11 of them back then, saying the rest of the PTI MNAs would be summoned individually to verify if they had “willingly” gone ahead with the move.

The latest move seemed a ploy to push the speaker into accepting the resignations more quickly but Ashraf has continued with phase-wise acceptance to ensure that the prime minister faced no threat.

The fresh acceptance of resignations has significantly reduced the strength of the PTI in the lower house and more are expected to be given the nod on Monday.
The speaker has completed his consultation in this connection and the lists of the PTI MNAs, whose resignations would be accepted next, are being prepared as well.

If the resignations of 35 more PTI MNAs are accepted, with the exception of the party’s estranged members, its strength in the NA would be decreased by a significant number.

Not only would it mean the end of the PTI's demand for the opposition leader and Public Accounts Committee (PAC) slots, it would be unable to participate in the process for the caretaker set-up in the Centre as well.

PTI Vice President Shah Mahmood Qureshi said they were holding their parliamentary party meeting when the fresh resignations were announced.
A delegation of the party, headed by Qureshi, on Friday reached the Parliament House to discuss the issue of the resignations with Ashraf.

However, when they arrived at his chamber, they were told that the speaker was not present in the Parliament House.

Speaking to the media on the delegation's return from the speaker’s chamber, Qureshi complained that they had arrived to discuss the resignations but the speaker and his entire staff were absent.

He added that delaying the general elections would harm the country.
He maintained that they had arrived with 35 members of their party so that their resignations could be accepted.

“The speaker should accept the resignations of the remaining PTI MNAs,” Qureshi demanded.

Speaking on the occasion, PTI leader Asad Umar claimed that the only solution to the country’s woes was fresh general elections.

He added that further delaying the general polls would not benefit anyone.
Former NA speaker Asad Qaisar, who accompanied them, said the current rulers believed that they would install caretaker set-up of their own choice but his party would never accept it.

Qaiser rejected the phase-wise acceptance of resignations, describing the process as “illegal” and “immoral”.

The former speaker urged Ashraf to do the needful to meet the PTI’s demand for the acceptance of resignations en masse.

Alleging that “this is being done to bring a leader of opposition of their choice”, Qaiser said the speaker’s decision was “a joke in the name of democracy”.
PTI’s Fawad Chaudhry warned that the country was heading towards loan default.

He demanded that the resignations of all PTI MNAs should be accepted all at once.

Separately, Fawad in a tweet expressed his ‘gratitude' to the speaker for accepting the resignations.

However, he added that until the speaker did not accept the resignations of 70 more PTI MNAs, the posts of the opposition leader and the PAC chief belonged to his party.

PTI's Farrukh Habib, in a tweet, accused the NA speaker of accepting the resignations with “ill intent” because he had found out that his party planned to remove Raja Riaz as the opposition leader in the lower house.