National Assembly Speaker Raja Pervez Ashraf has summoned PTI lawmakers, including former prime minister Imran Khan, to verify their resignations a month after they, except dissidents, resigned en masse from the lower house of parliament.
An official statement issued by the NA secretariat on Monday said that summons have been issued to 131 PTI MNAs to appear before the speaker in his chamber on June 6.
استعفوں کی تصدیق کا عمل جمعہ المبارک 10 جون تک جاری رہےگا،
روزانہ کی بنیاد پر 30 مستعفی اراکین اسپیکر سےملاقات کریں گے،
ہر رکن کےلیے 5 منٹ کا وقت مقرر،
اسپیکر نے مستعفی اراکین کو قومی اسمبلی کے قواعد و ضوابط کے قاعدہ 43(2)(b) کے تحت تفویص اختیارات کو بروکار لاتے ہوئےطلب کیا۔ pic.twitter.com/RYWLqC185z
— National Assembly of Pakistan🇵🇰 (@NAofPakistan) May 30, 2022
The process of confirmation of resignations will continue till June 10 (Friday). On a daily basis, as many as 30 members will meet the speaker for five minutes each, the statement added.
The speaker has summoned the members by exercising the delegated powers under Rule 43 (2)( b) of the Rules and Regulations of the National Assembly, read the communiqué.
The resignation controversy
Former deputy speaker Qasim Suri had accepted the en masse resignations tendered by the ex-ruling party and directed the National Assembly Secretariat to issue a notification.
However, the newly-appointed speaker Raja Pervaiz declared all the resignations unacceptable and decided to review the process afresh.
On April 14, the PTI released the NA Secretariat’s notification on social media declaring that 123 party MNAs “resigned from their seats by writing under their hand” to the speaker.
Signed by NA Secretary Tahir Hussain, it declared that after submission of the resignations their seats had become vacant in terms of Article 64(1) of the Constitution, with effect from April 11.
However, the NA Secretariat officials kept a hush on the matter and later revealed that since the entire episode was riddled with controversy, the new speaker’s prerogative on it would be taken as effective and legal.
The ruling of the 22nd speaker of the assembly to look at the resignations again came amid claims that some of the PTI lawmakers were now willing to retract and have been conveying messages that their resignations should not be accepted.
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 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, the NA secretariat officials had confirmed that the resignations accepted by Suri were never sent to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), saying the former deputy speaker was clearly told that the process that he had adopted to accept the resignations was not correct.
However, they said, Suri proceeded ahead and accepted the resignations.