The PTI petitioned the IHC chief justice on Wednesday to question why Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, the speaker of the lower house of parliament, accepted only 11 of their resignations rather than those of all 123 party members. Senator Barrister Syed Ali Zafar, a PTI attorney, appeared in court today.
The PTI members claimed in their new court filing that the leadership decided to protest the party’s removal from power after their government was overthrown by an “international conspiracy”
The petition stated that the party planned to have all of its elected members resign collectively from the National Assembly to seek a new mandate from the people.
The party believes that the speaker was required to accept the resignations of all 123 MNAs who left the lower house of parliament to protest the “plot” that led to the overthrow of their party’s government.
In response to the request for a hearing, Justice Minallah stated that the court was not allowed to give instructions to the NA speaker because voters elect their representatives.
“You must establish a communication with your other counterpart to overcome such conflicts,” he told the PTI attorney.
The speaker, according to Barrister Zafar, did not uphold his constitutional obligation.
The chief justice of the IHC noted that members whose resignations had not been accepted must reenter the legislature, stating that “democracy should not be made a joke out of the parliament because it has been badly mistreated.”
The petitioners could not defy party policy, the attorney argued.
Justice Minallah replied, “So this court can likewise not accept this petition.”
He claimed that unless the petitioners showed respect for the parliament, the request could not be accepted.
The IHC Chief Justice declared that the court would not permit a breach of the parliament’s sanctity.
Then he said, “Come back to the Parliament tomorrow; this court will accept your plea.”
