ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) was approached on Thursday by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Shakoor Shad against acceptance of his resignation from the National Assembly seat, claiming he did not resign from his seat.
The IHC on September 6 turned down the PTI’s petition challenging the phase-wise acceptance resignations of its Members of the National Assembly (MNAs) and declared that the then deputy speaker, Qasim Suri, issued notification of acceptance of the resignation is “in violation of the Constitution”.
Shakoor in a constitutional petition filed through advocate Akhtar Cheema, maintained that the resignation letter was written by a computer operator at the PTI’s head office, and was signed by 123 members. He argued that the letter did not address the lower house speaker, and did not have a name or date on it.
The PTI submitted that the resignations were taken to show solidarity with the PTI chief Imran Khan to maintain party discipline and for “political purposes”. It further alleged that the approval of the resignation was in violation of the judgment given by Justice Athar Minallah in 2015. The court has declared that resignation must be voluntary, made of free will, and for the purpose of vacating the seat.
The PTI leader’s petition maintained that according to Senate Chairperson Raza Rabbani’s ruling in 2015, the acceptance of the PTI MNA’s resignation was a violation of the speaker’s oath. The constitutional petition requested that the election schedule be suspended immediately and the notification of his seat being vacated be declared null and void.
A single bench of IHC Justice Athar Minallah remarked that the notification of the then National Assembly deputy speaker Qasim Suri was declared unconstitutional in an earlier judgment.
He added that an earlier verdict had mentioned that the NA speaker would decide the matter and there was nothing that the court could do. The CJ noted that the court had decided not to meddle in political affairs.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022
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