Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, the speaker of the National Assembly, accepted the resignations of 35 members of the lower house of parliament who are affiliated with the Imran Khan-led Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf on Tuesday as power struggles between the government and the opposition parties continue in the nation (PTI).
Many parliamentarians have had their resignations accepted, including Asad Qaiser, Qasim Suri, Pervez Khattak, Ali Amin Gandapur, Murad Saeed, Shehryar Khan Afridi, and Imran Khattak.
The change happened as tensions between the PTI and the country’s PML-N-led government grew more intense.
The news broke a day after Imran Khan, the leader of the PTI and a former prime minister, suggested that he will visit the National Assembly again to speak with the treasury benches “on a temporary set-up to be installed following the dissolution” of the lower chamber of parliament.
Imran predicted that the country’s upcoming general elections would take place in two to three months while speaking to a limited group of media in Lahore on Monday. He stated that absent their participation, the administration would engage Raja Riaz, the current leader of the opposition in the National Assembly, regarding the caretaker government.
The Punjab Assembly’s dissolution and the PTI’s announcement that it will test PM Shehbaz Sharif’s nerves by requesting a vote of confidence from the National Assembly have made general elections the talk of the town. In a different move, the PTI vowed to return to the NA under the terms that the Leader of the Opposition, Parliamentary Leader, and Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee all come from the PTI.
Rana Sanaullah, the interior minister, on the other side, stated that although the NA would welcome the PTI, there would be no discussion of an interim administration before the current one’s tenure ends in August.
The resignations of the following members have been accepted: Murad Saeed, Umar Ayub, Asad Qaiser, Parvez Khattak, Imran Khattak, Shehryar Afridi, Qasim Suri, Najeeb Haroon, Aslam Khan, Aftab Jahangir, Attaullah, Aftab Hussain Siddiqui, Ali Haider Zaidi, Alamgir Khan, Saifur Rehman, Faheem Khan, Zartaj Gul, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Malik Amir Dogar, Shafqat Mehmood, Hammad Azhar, Sanaullah Mastikhel, Fawad Ahmed, Mansoor Hayat and others.
As well, the resignations of Alia Hamza Malik and Kanwal Shuzab, who were chosen from reserve seats, have been accepted.
The legislators have also been removed from their seats by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).
