PTI moves IHC against acceptance of 12 MNAs’ resignations

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) approached on Wednesday the Islamabad High Court (IHC) through a petition filed for the approval of resignations tendered by the party lawmakers following Imran Khan’s ouster as prime minister.

All the PTI MNAs resigned en masse on April 11, two days after PTI Chairman Imran Khan was ousted as the prime minister through a no-confidence motion moved by the-then opposition. Former deputy speaker Qasim Suri — who was performing his duties as acting NA speaker after Asad Qaiser’s resignation — had accepted all the resignations on April 15.

The petitioners include Ali Muhammad Khan, Fazal Muhammad Khan, Shaukat Ali, Dr Shireen Mazari, Dr Shandana Gulzar, Fakhar Zaman Khan, Farakh Habib, Ijaz Shah, Jameel Ahmed and Muhammad Akram.

However, once Raja Pervaiz Ashraf was elected as the speaker, he decided to verify the resignations by interviewing lawmakers individually. Later, the resignations of PTI members were de-sealed and Raja Pervaiz accepted 11 of them.

The joint petition, filed by 10 out of 11 lawmakers, states that the NA Speaker “unlawfully” declared them as having resigned, which led to the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) notification to de-seat them.

The petitioners maintained that the PTI MNAs tendered their resignations as per party policy on political grounds with the objective of reaching an agreement with the-then “opposition parties for holding fresh elections so that a new government might be formed with a real mandate” of the people.

Moreover, the petitioners submitted the records and transcript of audio leaks regarding the PTI resignations that surfaced on September 25. The plea stated that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, cabinet members and PMLN leaders were heard taking approval for accepting the resignations from PMLN supremo Nawaz Sharif. They said the government did not deny the audio leaks, but owned it on September 27, which backs the PTI’s stance that the resignations were not properly processed.

The petitioners requested the court to direct the NA speaker to summon “112 MNAs” and petitioners for an inquiry whether the resignations were “voluntary and genuine”, and fulfilled the criteria laid out under Article 64 of the Constitution.

The party appealed to the court to declare the Speaker and ECP’s order on their seats “illegal”, issued “without lawful authority and of no legal effect.” They also stated that the orders were in violation of the Constitution and the law settled by the Supreme Court.

The PTI had appealed to the IHC to hold immediate hearing of their case. However, the request was turned down and the court decided to hold a hearing tomorrow (October 6). IHC CJ Athar Minallah will hear the plea.