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Friday March 29, 2024

PTI lawmakers are ‘strangers’ in Parliament: MQM

ISLAMABAD: Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) leader Farooq Sattar said Monday that lawmakers of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) were not members of Parliament anymore according to the Constitution.

“Today PTI lawmakers returned to the House after a long time. It should be clear that these lawmakers already resigned seven months ago,” he said.

He said that clause 1 of Article 64 of

By GEO ENGLISH
April 06, 2015
ISLAMABAD: Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) leader Farooq Sattar said Monday that lawmakers of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) were not members of Parliament anymore according to the Constitution.

“Today PTI lawmakers returned to the House after a long time. It should be clear that these lawmakers already resigned seven months ago,” he said.

He said that clause 1 of Article 64 of the Constitution of Pakistan explains that any lawmaker who submits his resignation is considered to have resigned immediately if that resignation is not taken back.

It is not the Speaker's privilege to allow them back into the House, he said.

“The constitution also says that if any member is absent from the House for more than 40 days, he is deemed not to be a member of Parliament anymore,” he added.

We tried to tell the Speaker that there are strangers in the House," said Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui.

Sattar said that it was tantamount to ‘making a joke of democracy’ by allowing these ‘strangers’ back into the House.

He said that NA Speaker Ayaz Sadiq needs to clarify his stance on the matter.

“We are the custodians of the constitution. We will keep protesting as long as we do not get a response on this from the Speaker. And if the need arises, we will also knock on the door of the court,” said Sattar.

“We will continue to protest. Whether it is a walkout or not, we will inform you at 5:00 PM,” he said.