Imran Khan ‘forcing’ PTI lawmakers to resign from Pakistan’s National Assembly: PML-N leader

Islamabad, April 13

Ousted Prime Minister Imran Khan was forcing Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) lawmakers to resign from the country’s National Assembly, senior PML-N leader Ayaz Sadiq alleged on Wednesday.

After losing the no-confidence motion against the PTI supremo and the election of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Shehbaz Sharif as the prime minister, Khan’s party had boycotted the National Assembly session and announced en mass resignation from the lower house of Parliament.

Sadiq, a former Speaker of the National Assembly, at a press-conference said that Khan was forcefully asking lawmakers to resign and was submitting their resignations to Deputy Speaker Qasim Suri, GEO TV reported.

“In line with the law, every member should appear in person and submit their resignation to the speaker […] there are some conditions and questions that are noted before the acceptance of the resignation,” Sadiq said, claiming that the PTI lawmakers were pressured into signing cyclostyled documents, which included their names and constituency.

“It is clearly stated in the rules that a lawmaker’s resignation should be handwritten,” he said.

Pakistan Peoples Party lawmaker Sherry Rehman also asserted that the deputy speaker Suri was pressurising the National Assembly Secretariat on the issue of resignations.

“The deputy speaker is violating the laws […] Suri had said that he identified the members based on their signatures, but according to the rules, every member should be present in person for submitting their resignations,” Rehman said.

According to Rehman, several PTI lawmakers have been contacting the opposition parties to express their reservations over Khan’s policy of taking resignations forcefully.

Lashing out at the PTI for not following the Supreme Court and the Islamabad High Court’s orders, the PPP lawmaker also urged the Election Commission of Pakistan to take cognisance of the matter.