ISLAMABAD: The embattled opposition party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), dramatically resigned from parliamentary committees on Wednesday, intensifying a political standoff with the ruling coalition.
In a coordinated move viewed as a strategic act of defiance, scores of PTI lawmakers tendered their resignations from key National Assembly committees – including the powerful Public Accounts Committee (PAC) – in accordance with their party founder Imran Khan’s instructions from behind bars.
The mass resignations represent a renewed escalation in the party’s ongoing protest against the establishment.
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Ali Asghar, Sajid Khan, Shahid Khattak, Sanaullah Mastikhel, Junaid Akbar, Faisal Amin Khan, and Asif Khan stepped down as members of various standing committees, covering portfolios from economic affairs to cabinet oversight.
Sajid Khan, who resigned from committees on Overseas Pakistanis and Kashmir Affairs, pledged to vacate his National Assembly seat if ordered to do so by Khan.
Senior PTI leader Junaid Akbar, who also served as chairman of the PAC, resigned from the post along with all other PTI members of the committee – the top parliamentary watchdog on government expenditure – submitting his resignation to the party chief whip in NA, Amir Dogar, who subsequently forwarded it to the National Assembly Speaker’s Secretariat.
Faisal Amin Khan, brother of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur, resigned from three committees, including those on food security and economic policy.
PTI spokesperson Sheikh Waqas Akram likewise relinquished all committee roles.
According to sources, National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq has received several of the resignations.
The move forms part of a broader political boycott, which includes a refusal to contest upcoming by-elections triggered by the disqualification of PTI lawmakers convicted in relation to the 9 May riots. In a further sign of institutional withdrawal, Imran Khan has directed PTI’s representatives to resign from the Judicial Commission, branding the forum ineffective.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
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