PTI resignations: NA speaker urges parties to work for national rebuilding

• NA speaker confirms he had received a written note from PTI delegation.
• Says he will review the note with NA legal department before making a decision on PTI's return.
• Speaker issues statement after meeting with PTI delegation.

Hours after ruling out return of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) to the National Assembly, Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf has called on all political parties to work towards national stability and promote unity and harmony in the country.

Ashraf's remarks in a video statement come after a PTI delegation — led by Amir Dogar — called on him at his office in Islamabad on Monday. The PTI had requested that their resignations be rescinded and that they be allowed to reclaim their positions in the legislature.

In the meeting, the NA speaker ruled out the possibility of the PTI leaders coming back to the assembly as lawmakers because their resignations were accepted. 

However, in the video statement Ashraf said that every problem could be solved.

The NA speaker confirmed that he had received a written note from the PTI delegation, which he would review with his legal department before making a decision on whether to allow the former lawmakers return to the House.

He said that he called on all political parties to work towards stability and mutual harmony for the betterment of the country.

"We must steer our country out of the current crisis by holding one another's hand," he maintained, adding he hoped to play a positive role and contribute to the country's betterment.

Earlier in the video, the speaker said what he had discussed with the PTI delegation, including the party's request to retract their resignations and return to the National Assembly. However, he reminded them that their resignations were voluntary and had been accepted by him following their repeated requests.

"A PTI delegation, headed by the former NA speaker, met me on December 30 last year," he said, adding the PTI leaders asked him to immediately accept their resignations. He said that he accepted resignations following their constant requests.

Despite the speaker's reminder the leaders in Monday's delegation claimed that the he had accepted their resignations "wrongly", he said. As a result, they had gone to court over the matter, he said.

The speaker also stated that the PTI leaders informed him that they had received directives from the court that the Election Commission of Pakistan withdrew its notification. That's why, they wanted to resume their responsibilities in the National Assembly, he said.

However, it remains to be seen how this development will impact the speaker's decision on the matter. 

The resignation saga

In April last year, the party's lawmakers resigned en masse from the NA after PTI Chairman Imran Khan was ousted from power through a no-confidence motion.

At first, the resignations of only 11 MNAs were accepted by NA speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf. However, on January 17 and January 20, the resignations of 34 and 35 more PTI MNAs were accepted respectively.

Several MNAs then withdrew their resignations and requested the speaker not to accept them. However, on January 22, the NA speaker accepted the last batch of resignations.

Subsequently, the 43 MNAs took their grievance to the Lahore High Court (LHC), which on February 8 suspended the ECP's orders.

Later, several other PTI MNAs approached the LHC for similar relief. The court, however, only instructed the ECP to suspend the denotification of PTI MNAs from Punjab.

The electoral body last Friday — in line with the LHC's order — suspended its denotification announcement of 32 PTI MNAs. Moreover, it also halted the by-polls in those constituencies.