Ashraf torpedoes PTI’s early return to NA

Party chief whip meets speaker; wants Qureshi as new opposition leader, consultations on NAB czar’s appointment

ISLAMABAD:

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) on Monday demanded the National Assembly speaker to appoint PTI MNA Shah Mahmood Qureshi as the leader of the opposition after the party emerged as the largest block in the assembly following the decisions of the Lahore High Court (LHC) and the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) regarding PTI lawmakers’ en masse resignations.

The PTI also wants that the appointment of the new chairman of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) should only be finalised once the leader of the house, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, and the new leader of the opposition in NA complete consultation in this regard.

However, Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf verbally turned down the requests, saying he had accepted the PTI legislators’ resignations in accordance with the Constitution and the rules of business of National Assembly, saying all he could do was to discuss the matter with the legal team of NA Secretariat and get back to the PTI.

Sensing an opportunity to return to the assembly despite strongly urging the NA speaker to accept PTI lawmakers’ resignations for several months, the PTI is now trying hard to return to the lower house of parliament so that it could have a say in the formation of caretaker setup and appointment of the new NAB chairman, among other things.

Since April 2022, PTI kept demanding that their resignations be accepted but never appeared before the speaker when called for verification. After keeping the matter pending for months, NA Speaker suddenly started accepting resignations, paving the way for by-elections just when the general elections are around the corner.

Subsequently, the party approached the courts challenging NA speaker’s decision to accept their resignations and subsequent de-seating of the lawmakers by ECP just because staying away from the assembly would deprive it from key positions and having any say in the caretaker setup.

The demands from the PTI and apparent refusal from the NA speaker surfaced after a PTI delegation led by former PTI chiefwhip Malik Aamir Dogar called on Ashraf at the Parliament House on Monday.

An official statement of the National Assembly Secretariat stated that that the PTI delegation urged Ashraf to reverse his decision of accepting the resignations of the PTI legislators as the LHC and the ECP have passed orders, paving the way for the PTI to become the largest party in the assembly.

In a letter requesting the speaker to declare Qureshi as opposition leader, Dogar stated that the ECP has suspended its notifications of January 17 and 20, 2023, in pursuant of orders of the LHC.

As a result of the decision, Dogar maintained, the largest opposition party in the National Assembly is now the PTI, and the leader of the opposition should now be from PTI. “As directed by Chairman PTI,” he stated, “I am writing this letter to you, asking you to initiate the process for the change of Leader of the Opposition with immediate effect.”

Referring to the NAB law, Dogar stated that the appointment of Chairman NAB is to be carried out after consultation between the leader of the house and the leader of the opposition. “Therefore,” he stated, “the replacement of Mr. Ahab Sultan [ex-NAB chairman] should only be finalized after consultation with new Leader of the Opposition nominated by PTI.”

However, Ashraf told the delegation that PTI members’ resignations were accepted strictly in accordance with the constitution and NA rules & procedure, saying the process of acceptance resignations was started after his meeting with PTI delegation led by former PTI Speaker NA Asad Qaiser and Dogar.

While discussing the matter of acceptance of PTI members’ resignation and their demand for the seats of the opposition leader and chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), Ashraf told the delegation that each PTI member was written separately for individual verification of their resignations time and again but not a single member appeared before him.

In response to the demand of the PTI delegation to reverse the decision of acceptance of PTI members’ resignations, the speaker also informed the delegation that the process of acceptance of resignations was started after his meeting with PTI leaders demanding to accept their resignations forthwith.

However, the speaker assured that their request for reversing the decision would be put before legal team of NA Secretariat and PTI will be informed accordingly. While welcoming the PTI delegation, the Speaker also said that resolution of all challenges was possible only through dialogue.

He also said being custodian of the house he is bound to take decisions as per the constitution, laws and rules.