Have not received LHC order suspending resignations of 43 PTI lawmakers, says NA speaker

National Assembly Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf informed on Thursday that the NA Secretariat had yet to receive the Lahore High Court’s order regarding the suspension of the resignations of 43 PTI lawmakers. As the de-notified members of parliament began to arrive at the Parliament House, Ashraf stated that the NA Secretariat had not been officially notified of the case.

پاکستان تحریک انصاف (پی ٹی آئی) کہ استعفوں کے حوالے سے ہونے والی حالیہ پیش رفت پر اسپیکر قومی اسمبلی راجہ پرویز اشرف کا بیان_

لاہور ہائیکورٹ کا فیصلہ ابھی تک اسمبلی کو موصول نہیں ہوا_ آئندہ کا لائحہ عمل فیصلہ پڑھنے کہ بعد طے کیا جائے گا_اسپیکر pic.twitter.com/XDEVCThyLw
— National Assembly 🇵🇰 (@NAofPakistan) February 9, 2023

Last year in April, the PTI party resigned en masse from the National Assembly. After several months of delays from Ashraf, he finally accepted the resignations earlier this year, leading to the de-notification of 123 members of parliament (including reserved seats) by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).

However, on Wednesday, the Lahore High Court suspended the de-notification orders of 43 PTI party members of parliament and issued notices to both the federal government and the electoral body.

In a video message today, Ashraf said that he had not received the LHC’s order nor was it in his knowledge. “The order is not with us … we can’t read it or go into the details.”

The speaker of the National Assembly (NA) stated that the government has not been officially notified of the case and only learned of it through television. The speaker added that once they receive the decision, they will consult with lawyers and experts before deciding on the next steps.

Meanwhile, PTI lawmakers Sajida Begum, Rai Murtaza Iqbal, Nusrat Wahid, Shanila Ruth, Asma Hamid, Ghazals Saifi, and Jai Parkash, whose resignations were suspended, arrived at the Parliament House with the intention of selecting their own opposition leader.

The opposition leader of the Senate, Shahzad Waseem, told reporters outside the NA secretariat that the speaker is obligated to abide by the court’s orders. He emphasized that the high court has declared the speaker’s acceptance of resignations as illegal. Waseem stated that the PTI lawmakers will attend the Parliament session today with the hope of appointing their own opposition leader. He said, “God willing, we will have our own opposition leader.”