No PTI MNA turns up to verify resignation

ISLAMABAD: National Assembly Speaker Raja Pervez Ashraf Monday waited for the first batch of 30 Members of the National Assembly of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) for the verification of their resignations but no one turned up.

According to the National Assembly Secretariat, letters have been dispatched to 131 PTI MNAs to appear individually before the Speaker for the verification of their resignations. Thirty MNAs were to appear for the verification daily. The process will continue till April 10.

Sources in the National Assembly said if the PTI members did not reach the parliament by June 10, National Assembly Speaker Raja Pervez Ashraf will decide about the resignations under the rules and procedure of the conduct of the business.

For Tuesday, Raja Pervez Ashraf has already invited another batch of 30 PTI MNAs from NA-43 to NA-1118, the constituencies from Khyber Pukhtunkhaw, Islamabad and Punjab. The first batch was invited from NA-2 to NA 42 constituencies that included former National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaisar, Federal Ministers Murad Saeed, Omar Ayub Khan, Pervez Khattak, Sheharyar Afridi and Minister of State Ali Muhammad Khan.

In the meanwhile, according to sources, a legal debate continues in the government and its coalition partners to accept the resignations of Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Fawad Chaudhry and Dr Shireen Mazari as they had announced their decision to resign while addressing the National Assembly. However, no decision has been taken so far.

PTI chairman and former Prime Minister Imran Khan has already issued directives to his members not to appear before the Speaker. The PTI members had resigned en bloc on April 11.