By Muhammad Usman
ISLAMABAD: In an apparent move to outnumber the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) in the national assembly, the Speaker on Friday accepted the resignations of another 35 lawmakers of the Imran-led party.
The Election Commission of Pakistan also de-notified the Members National Assembly (MNAs) of PTI after National Assembly Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf accepted their resignations.
Those de-notified by the ECP on Friday included Dr Haider Ali Khan (NA-2), Saleem Rehman (NA-3), Sahibzada Sibghatullah (NA-5), Mehboob Shah (NA-6), Muhammad Bashir Khan (NA-7), Junaid Akbar (NA-8), Sher Akbar Khan (NA-9), Ali Khan Jadoon (NA-16), Engr Usman Khan Tarakai (NA-19), Mujahid Ali (NA-20), Arbab Amir Ayub (NA-28), Sher Ali Arbab (NA-30), Shahid Ahmed (NA-34), Gul Dad Khan (NA-40), Sajid Khan (NA-42), Mohammad Iqbal Khan (NA-44), Aamer Mehmood Kiani (NA-61), Syed Faiz ul Hassan (NA-70), Chaudhry Shoukat Ali Bhab (NA-87), Umar Aslam Khan (NA-93), Amjad Ali Khan (NA-96), Khurram Shahzad (NA-107), Faizullah (NA-109), Malik Karamat Ali Khokhar (NA-135), Syed Fakhar Imam (NA-150), Zahoor Hussain Qureshi (NA-152), Ibraheem Khan (NA-158), Tahir Iqbal (NA-164), Aurangzeb Khan Khichi (NA-165), Makhdoom Khusro BakhBar (NA-177), Abdul Majeed Khan (NA-187), Andaleeb Abbas (reserved seat), Asma Qadeer (reserved seat), Maleeka Ali Bokhari (reserved seat), Munawara Bibi Baloch (reserved seat).
En-masse resignations
The PTI had resigned en-masse from the national assembly following the ouster of PTI chief Imran Khan in April 2022. Subsequently, the Speaker had accepted resignations of only 11 members, stating that the remaining lawmakers would be summoned individually for verification.
The speaker, however, on January 17 accepted resignations of another 34 PTI MNAS. The de-notified lawmakers include Sadaqat Ali Khan, Mansoor Hayat Khan, Fawad Ahmed, Murad Saeed, Omar Ayub Khan, Sheharyar Afridi, Ali Amin Khan, Noorul Haq Qadri, Raja Khurram Shahzad Nawaz, Ghulam Sarwar Khan, Sheikh Rashid Shafique, Ali Nawaz Awan, Asad Umar, Sanaullah Khan Mastikhel, Malik Muhammad Amir Dogar, Asad Qaiser, Pervaiz Khattak, Imran Khattak, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Zartaj Gul, Faheem Khan, Saifur Rehman, Hammad Azhar, Shafqat Mahmood, Muhammad Alamgir Khan, Ataullah, Aftab Jehangir, Muhammad Aslam Khan, Syed Ali Haider Zaidi, Aftab Hussain Saddique, Muhammad Najeeb Haroon and Qasim Khan Suri. Two female PTI lawmakers elected on reserve seats — Kanwal Shauzab and Aliya Hamza Malik — were also de-notified. In addition to the 34 PTI MNAs, the Election Commission of Pakistan also de-notified Awami Muslim League (AML) chief Sheikh Rashid Ahmed.
The move which comes on the heels of PTI’s gesture to return to the national assembly, is apparently an effort to scuttle PTI’s move to perform in the run-of-election for the prime minister if he fails to secure confidence of the required number of legislators in the lower house of the parliament. Currently, Raja Riaz leads the group of PTI MNAs in the national assembly and enjoys the position of leader of the opposition. The dissidents didn’t tender their resignations when the party decided to quit the assembly in the aftermath of Imran’s ouster.
