A decision over the resignations of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) MNAs will be made in line with the rules of the National Assembly (NA) and Constitution of Pakistan, National Assembly (NA) Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf said Thursday in a meeting with an Asad-Qaiser-led delegation of the political party.
Former NA speaker Asad Qaiser led a delegation of PTI leaders in a meeting with Ashraf at Parliament House to discuss the verification of resignations amid talks of PTI’s possible return to the assembly.
The PTI delegation included PTI leaders Qasim Suri, Amir Dogar, Dr Shabbir Hussain, Ataullah, Fahim Khan and Tahir Iqbal.
NA Speaker Ashraf received the PTI delegation upon their arrival at Parliament House.
During the meeting, Ashraf said that “in politics, doors are not closed; there should be links between politicians”.
He said that all the PTI lawmakers will be summoned individually.
The meeting was arranged after PTI’s former chief whip Amir Dogar’s request to Ashraf to hold talks over the matter of resignations. Ashraf welcomed the meeting, saying that dialogues are the only solution in a parliamentary democracy.
However, Ashraf added that the verification of PTI lawmakers’ resignation would still be subject to one-by-one meetings.
On Wednesday, the NA speaker had said that the PTI delegation did not come to meet him and asked for a meeting today at 11:30am.
“Dogar told me that some of the PTI leaders wanted to meet me regarding their resignations; however, I told him that I would meet all of them separately and not in groups,” added Ashraf.
On Wednesday, Shah Mehmood Qureshi said they are willing to play a role in Parliament, but the government is not ready to commit seriously.
The PTI leader made the remarks while reacting to Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari’s statement against PTI chief Imran Khan.
Bilawal, addressing a gathering in Garhi Khuda Bakhsh held to mark the 15th death anniversary of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, asked the PTI chief to return to parliament as neither he nor his party “could bear” what’s coming to them.
The PTI MNAs had resigned en masse after PTI Chairman Imran Khan was voted out from the prime minister’s office in April and have yet to return to the House.
