Tag: MNAs

  • PHC extends stay on reserved seats MNAs oath

    PHC extends stay on reserved seats MNAs oath

    The Peshawar High Court (PHC) has extended its stay order on the oath-taking ceremony of lawmakers notified on reserve seats, which were denied to the PTI-backed Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) after a verdict to the effect issued by Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP).

    The court issued its order during a hearing of a petition filed by SIC, adjourning the hearing and summoning the Attorney General of Pakistan, Mansoor Usman Awan, to appear before the court on the next hearing.

    A day earlier, the PHC barred the oath-taking of lawmakers notified on the aforementioned reserved seats, preventing members from swearing in and directed the ECP to submit its response in the said matter by today.  

    The directives were issued during today’s hearing conducted by Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim and Justice Shakeel Ahmad.

  • Newly-elected MNAs to take oath today

    Newly-elected MNAs to take oath today

    Newly-elected Members of National Assembly (MNA) are set to take oaths today in the inaugural session of the 16th session of the lower house.
    The development comes as the convening of the assembly’s session, required to be held on the 21st day after the polls under Article 91(2) of the Constitution, was surrounded by uncertainty after President Arif Alvi had stressed the allocation of reserved seats before the session.

    Geo News reported that the president gave a verbal response on the matter, without either rejecting or accepting the summary.

    On Monday, since Alvi was hesitant to call for the assembly session, the National Assembly Secretariat organized the session.
    However, the president finally summoned the NA session after political parties warned him of legal consequences.

  • Record of Toshakhana gifts will be posted online soon, promises Khawaja Asif

    Record of Toshakhana gifts will be posted online soon, promises Khawaja Asif

    The federal cabinet under the supervision of Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif has decided to make the details of state gifts received over the past two decades available to the public soon.

    Defence Minister Khawaja Asif announced the development on his Twitter account where he revealed that the declassification of Toshakhana records has been allowed by the cabinet, adding that the record would be posted soon on the website of the cabinet division.

    Last year in June, PM Shehbaz Sharif constituted a ministerial committee to redesign Toshakhana policy.

    Toshakhana has been at the center of a political storm since 2021 when former prime minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan was accused of hiding details of the gifts he received during his tenure. A case and an investigation pertaining to the same are currently going on.

    However, responding to the controversy Khan said that the gifts were given to him, therefore it was his choice to keep them or not.

    Last year, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) also disqualified the PTI chief as Member of the National Assembly (MNA) in the Toshkhana case.

    Recently, non-bailable arrest warrants were issued for Khan in the Toshkahana case because of his continued absences from Toshakhana court hearings. Last week, Islamabad Police reached Zaman Park to arrest the PTI chief, however, he managed to evade it.

    Later, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) suspended the arrest warrant but directed Khan to appear before the trial court by March 13 or face the proceedings of declaring him a proclaimed offender.

  • PTI decides to take back resignations of remaining MNAs: Asad Umar

    PTI decides to take back resignations of remaining MNAs: Asad Umar

    Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Secretary-General Asad Umar has said on Monday that 44 party lawmakers have decided to withdraw their resignations from the National Assembly (NA).

    Taking to Twitter, Umar announced that the remaining 44 MNAs of the party, whose resignations are yet to be accepted, have decided to take back their decision to leave the national assembly.

    “An email has been sent to the speaker,” said the PTI leader in his tweet. He also shared the names of the MNAs who have withdrawn their resignations.

    Meanwhile, PTI leader Fawad Chaudhry said 45 lawmakers had decided to withdraw their resignations so that the party could take back the post of the leader of the Opposition and parliamentary party leader.

    He added that the aim of the move was to get rid of the “fake” NA opposition leader and prevent “turncoats” from voting for Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in a vote of confidence.

    Following the announcement, the PTI lawmakers staged a sit-in outside the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) headquarters after being barred from entering the speaker’s house.

    However, authorities restricted the MNAs from entering the building by placing barbed wires on the road leading to the ECP.

    The development comes about after the National Assembly Speaker Pervez Ashraf, in a surprise move accepted the resignations of 69 MNAs during the previous week.

  • Is Imran Khan coming back to National Assembly to take PM Shehbaz out?

    Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan has hinted at the possibility that his party may return to the National Assembly (NA) to table a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif.

    The PTI fears that its dissenting member Raja Riaz who is holding the parliamentary party leader’s position in the NA may decide to vote in favour of PM Shehbaz if President Dr Arif Alvi asks Shehbaz Sharif to take the trust vote.

    Talking to the media at his Lahore residence, Khan said planning and consultations with party leaders and legal experts are going on to strategise how PTI’s turncoats can be stopped from siding with the ruling coalition of Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM).

    “He [Shehbaz Sharif] will have sleepless nights in the days to come”, Khan reportedly said to journalists.

    He claimed that some Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) MNAs want to join the PTI.

    “Some PML-N members of the National Assembly are in contact with the PTI and they have expressed their interest in joining our camp. We will test them before giving them party membership,” Imran said, adding that he saw elections taking place in March or April.

    The former ruling party is considering “testing” PM Sharif’s strength in the house sensing that cracks are appearing in PDM’s ranks.

    PTI’s senior leader Fawad Chaud­hry has said that the party’s return to the National Assembly was linked with its plan to oust PM Sharif, reports Dawn.

    He said PTI was seeking legal opinion on how it could bind its MNAs to vote in line with the party policy in case of a no-trust move, and if that can be achieved without joining the assembly.

  • It will be easy to take legal action against IK if he dissolves assemblies: PML-N’s Ahsan Iqbal

    It will be easy to take legal action against IK if he dissolves assemblies: PML-N’s Ahsan Iqbal

    Federal Minister for Planning and Development, Ahsan Iqbal, has said that if Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan dissolves provincial assemblies in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) it will be easy for law enforcement agencies to take action against him if they want to.

    Talking to Geo News’ programme ‘Aaj Shahzeb Khanzada Kay Sath‘, the minister warned the PTI chief, accusing him of using the provincial assemblies as his “shield”.

    Iqbal said, “Imran Khan has made these provincial governments his shield, when he is afraid of arrest, he either runs to Peshawar or Lahore.”

    “But if Khan dissolves these assemblies and the law wants to take him in its hand, it will be easy to do so,” he stated.

    Commenting on Khan’s announcement on the matter of PTI’s Members of the National Assembly (MNAs) resignations, the federal minister said that even if they are saying it, they are still living in parliamentary lodges.

    On Wednesday, Khan announced that he would give the date for the dissolution of Punjab and KP assemblies on December 17 (tomorrow) at Lahore’s Liberty Chowk.

  • ‘Fight your political battle outside court’: IHC tells PTI to go back to parliament

    ‘Fight your political battle outside court’: IHC tells PTI to go back to parliament

    Athar Minallah, Chief Justice of the Islamabad High Court (IHC), on Thursday has told legislators belonging to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) to go back to the National Assembly.

    The court was hearing a petition filed by PTI Members of the National Assembly (MNAs) pertaining to the matter of the acceptance of 11 of their resignations.

    On Wednesday, PTI filed the petition, stating that the Speaker of the National Assembly (NA), Raja Pervez Ashraf, “unlawfully” declared the members as having resigned because he “Accepted the resignation of 12 MNAs’ without calling them to ascertain the true picture and by not following the due process of law, committed an unconstitutional act.” The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) then notified them of de-seating.

    The party was of the view that the Speaker was under obligation to accept the resignations of all 123 MNAs however he only accepted 11 resignations.

    During the hearing, Chief Justice (CJ) Athar Minallah remarked, “You must hold a dialogue with other political parties to resolve such disputes.”

    The IHC chief justice observed that members whose resignations hadn’t been accepted must rejoin parliament.

    “Go and fight your political battle outside the court,” Justice Minallah told the PTI counsel. He added that this plea couldn’t be admitted until respect for the parliament was expressed by the petitioners. “Go back to parliament tomorrow, this court will accept your plea,” he told the PTI counsel.

    PTI lawyer Senator Ali Zafar said the party has yet to take a decision on this matter. He said the decision to return to parliament or not was a political one and the court should stay “far away” from it.

    “No political party is above parliament. This mindset needs to be changed”, the IHC chief justice pointed out.

    Zafar asked him if the court wanted an assurance from the petitioners about representing their constituencies to which the judge said: “Not just an assurance, prove by your actions that parliament is supreme.”

    Zafar said the party should be given time for consultations on the affidavits.

    The hearing was adjourned indefinitely.

    PTI reaches court, says acceptance of its MNA’s resignations was ‘unconstitutional act’

    A petition, filed by 10 out of the 11 PTI lawmakers whose resignations have been accepted, states that the Speaker of the National Assembly (NA), Raja Pervez Ashraf, “unlawfully” declared the members as having resigned because he “Accepted the resignation of 12 MNAs’ without calling them to ascertain the true picture and by not following the due process of law, committed an unconstitutional act.” The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) then notified them of de-seating.

    The party was of the view that the speaker was under obligation to accept the resignations of all 123 MNAs however he only accepted 11 resignations.

    The party appealed to the court to declare the speaker and ECP’s orders “illegal, issued without lawful authority and of no legal effect.” They also stated that the orders were in violation of the Constitution.

    In July, Raja Pervez Ashraf accepted 11 resignations of PTI MNAs under Article 64(1) of the Constitution of Pakistan.

    The petitioners maintained that the PTI MNAs tendered their resignations as per party policy on political grounds with the objective of reaching an agreement with the then “Opposition parties for holding fresh elections so that a new government may be formed with a real mandate.”

    The petitioners requested the court to direct the NA speaker to summon 112 MNAs and petitioners for an inquiry on whether the resignations were “Voluntary and genuine”, and fulfilled the criteria laid out under Article 64 of the constitution.

    The PTI also requested the high court to hold an immediate hearing of their case. However, the request was turned down and the court decided to hold a hearing tomorrow (October 6). IHC Chief Justice (CJ) Athar Minallah will hear the plea.

    Moreover, the petitioners submitted the records and transcripts of the audio leaks in which Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif and members of his cabinet can be heard seeking approval for accepting the resignations from PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif.

  • PM Shehbaz audio leaks: PTI Supreme Court pohanch gayi

    PM Shehbaz audio leaks: PTI Supreme Court pohanch gayi

    Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) moved Supreme Court (SC) on Saturday to investigate the matter of Prime Minister (PM) House audio leaks of PM Shehbaz Sharif and his party members including some federal ministers.

    The former ruling party has requested the top court to seek criminal charges against PM Shehbaz and his team for hatching a “criminal conspiracy”.

    One of the many audio leaks allegedly concerns a conversation between PM Shehbaz, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif, Law Minister Azam Tarar, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah, and former National Assembly (NA) speaker Ayaz Sadiq about the resignations of PTI MNAs. The audio is said to be a recording of a cabinet meeting.

    Party leaders can be allegedly heard discussing whose resignations from PTI will be accepted. Moreover, the leaders can be heard saying that the final decision will be taken by PML-N Supremo Nawaz Sharif who is in London.

    “The incumbent prime minister and his cabinet members can be heard discussing a heinous strategy to outplay the petitioner from the parliamentary politics in a most illegal, unlawful and objectionable manner,” the PTI said in the petition about the audio leak.

    The petition said that the entire discussion revolves around a “criminal strategy/conspiracy” to affect and target the party through piecemeal acceptance of the resignations tendered by PTI’s MNAs on April 11.

    The party said that PM Shehbaz, Information Minister Maryum Aurangzeb and Rana Sanaullah have admitted the existence of audio leaks.

    The PTI claimed that the PM and his cabinet members with the aid of incumbent NA Speaker Raja Pervez Ashraf violated their oath and utterly disregarded the law and constitution.

    A total of six audios featuring PM and his party leader have been leaked while two audio leaks featuring Imran Khan and his party members have come to light.

  • ‘Use of teargas shells, rubber bullets will be considered’: Rana Sanaullah ahead of PTI’s long march

    ‘Use of teargas shells, rubber bullets will be considered’: Rana Sanaullah ahead of PTI’s long march

    Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah talked about the long march call given by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan.

    The minister said that “it is not possible to talk to a person like Imran Khan, Khan has to prepare but we are fully prepared”, reports Geo Urdu.

    On the question about controlling the participants of the possible PTI sit-in, Sanaullah said that modern methods would be adopted to fire teargas shells and rubber bullets on the protesters and the use of drones would also be considered.

    When asked what if the provincial governments in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) where PTI is in power refused to provide police forces when Islamabad police asked for it. Sanaullah said that the government would take action against them in line with the Constitution.

    Rana also said that the red zone was sealed as a precaution, but warned that when PTI approach Islamabad, the red zone would be sealed again.

    However, Imran Khan warned the minister said that “he should be worried” because the PTI will be marching towards Islamabad with “full preparation” this time.

    “We promise you that you will not be able to hide in Islamabad,” Khan told Sanaullah, adding that he will make a decision on Saturday about giving a call to the public to take to the streets.

    Islamabad asks for more police forces to deal with a possible PTI protest

    Islamabad’s red zone has been sealed with containers and Section 144 has been imposed ahead of a possible Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) protest in the federal capital.

    The city administration reportedly plans to dig trenches and place hundreds of containers at the entrances of Islamabad to prevent PTI supporters from entering the city.

    Moreover, Islamabad police have asked for 30,000 personnel of police, paratroopers, and the Frontier Corps (FC) force from the provinces — 20,000 from Punjab, 4,000 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), and 6,000 personnel of the Rangers and the FC force.

    However, the provincial governments of Punjab and KP have not yet decided how to respond to the Islamabad request, reports Geo News.

    According to the Islamabad police, “Some people from Punjab have set out for the federal capital to get their political demands”.

    Entry to D-Chowk has been restricted and barbed wires and shipping containers are placed in the area.

    Earlier, PTI Chairman Imran Khan warned the government to stop the “persecution” of his party workers otherwise he would again march on Islamabad.

    He had directed the party leaders to start preparations for a long march to Islamabad. He also asked party workers to wait for the Islamabad call. The final date is yet to be announced.

    In May, PTI leaders and thousands of supporters reached Islamabad where a six-day deadline was given to the government for announcing elections and dissolving assemblies. That long march ended a day after it started.

  • PTI MNAs using govt residences despite resigning from NA

    PTI MNAs using govt residences despite resigning from NA

    After former Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan was ousted through a no-confidence motion, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Members of National Assembly (MNAs) tendered their resignations together.

    Months have passed but the party’s MNAs still have not evacuated the residences given to them by the government at the parliamentary lodges. It has been reported that not even one MNA has vacated the place.

    Including the lodges, 42 side rooms are also in use by the MNAs.

    When the magistrate was informed, he expressed disappointment and contacted the court in this matter.

    On July 29, National Assembly (NA) Speaker Raja Pervez Ashraf accepted 11 resignations of PTI MNAs members under Article 64(1) of the Constitution of Pakistan.

    Additionally, 29 PTI members were still enjoying privileges as Members of the Punjab Assembly (MPAs) despite tendering their resignations, reported Dawn earlier in the month.

    According to the news outlet, salaries are being transferred to PTI members’ accounts as their resignations have not yet been formally accepted. Therefore, members are still enjoying the perks.