LAHORE – Former prime minister Imran Khan said on Friday that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) lawmakers would return to the National Assembly to raise the issues of human rights violations and attempts to crush his party.
He however made it clear that he himself would not go to the house because it had “lost its political and legislative relevance for the country”.
Khan’s remarks came after the Lahore High Court (LHC) set aside decisions of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and the National Assembly (NA) speaker to accept resignations of 72 PTI lawmakers from Punjab. The Friday’s court ruling has effectively paved the way for PTI lawmakers’ return to the National Assembly.
LHC Justice Shahid Karim gave the ruling on the petitions filed by PTI leaders Shafqat Mahmood and Riaz Ahmad Fatyana. Justice Karim directed the lawmakers to personally appear before the speaker to withdraw their resignations. Also, he directed the speaker to decide the matter after personally hearing each member.
These 72 PTI lawmakers from Punjab were among those who resigned en masse after Khan was ousted from power on April 10, 2022, through a vote of no-confidence.
Talking to the media, PTI Senator Syed Ali Zafar said these MNAs could now go back to the National Assembly and perform their constitutional duties.
Earlier, in his concluding arguments before the court, Zafar said that the MNAs had resigned en masse on the party’s directions to force the government to hold fresh elections. He said the petitioners had in fact withdrawn their resignations on television and informed the speaker in writing about their decision.
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The lawyer argued that the speaker cannot accept the resignation of any MNA without following the constitutional procedure, which has been upheld in several decisions by the Supreme Court and high courts.
He pointed out that masse resignations could not be accepted and each MNA had to submit handwritten resignations. To verify the resignations, the speaker must hear each lawmaker personally and ascertain whether their decision was voluntary or under duress.
Zafar said the speaker had earlier assured a delegation of the PTI that he would call lawmakers individually to verify the resignations. He claimed that the speaker backtracked from his stated position after PTI lawmakers announced their intentions.