by Muhammad Azhar Siddique in The Nation, Jan 17, 2023
Following the ouster of its Chief, Im ran Khan as the Prime Minister of Pakistan through a no-confidencevote, Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf (PTI) has been facing delaying tactics regarding the acceptance of resignations of its members of the National Assembly (NA) as its political opponents are fearful of an unprecedented defeat if the country goes for early elections amidst aggravating national crises. In the wake of national challenges, particularly the already rising current countrywide flour shortage, PTI wants immediate acceptance of its members’ resignations as it is hopeful of making a clean sweep in the general elections across the country. It has already proved its mettle in last year’s by-elections by defeating the joint opposition Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM). PTI won six NA seats in by-elections held on October 16, 2022 and is still gaining momentum in the political arena.
Thus, Imran Khan’s opponents are creating hurdles in the holding of early elections in a bid to save their politics, especially on the issue of resignations. Out of the eight NA seats previously held by PTI, Imran had contested seven seats. He won the NA seats from Mardan, Peshawar, and Charsadda in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa; Faisalabad as well as Nankana Sahib in Punjab; and the Korangi District of Karachi in Sindh. Besides, bypolls were also held on three seats of the Punjab Assembly (PA) previously held by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and PTI won two of them while PML-N could retain only one.
It was also unprecedented in history that one candidate (Imran Khan) contested for seven National Assembly seats. Due to PTI’s popularity and its ongoing political momentum, PDM fears that PTI will make a clean sweep if early elections are held. In addition, the solution to the national crises seems nowhere in sight as Pakistan is facing its worst-ever wheat crisis nowadays.
The shortage of flour and stampedes are being reported from several parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan and Sindh. Risking their precious lives, amidst stampedes and other untoward incidents, hundreds of thousands of poverty-stricken people have to queue up in front of trucks to get subsidised flour wheat that is already in shortage in the local markets. If the elections are held in these circumstances, the PDM mix fears that PTI will grab victories across the country.
Therefore it wants a delay in the acceptance of PTI lawmakers’ resignations. Earlier, protesting against the toppling of its government, in April 2022, PTI announced it was resigning en masse from NA just hours before (then) opposition leader Shehbaz Sharif was to take oath as the country’s new premier. Afterward, (then) NA deputy speaker Qasim Suri accepted the resignations of 123 PTI MNAs. Nevertheless, the current speaker decided to verify the resignations, personally, to ensure that the resignations were tendered voluntarily.
However, the speaker, eventually, accepted the resignations of just 11 lawmakers on July 27, 2022. During a meeting with a PTI delegation, on December 29, 2022, over the resignation of the political party’s MNAs, NA Speaker, Raja Pervaiz Ashraf stated that the decision in that respect would be made in line with the NA rules and the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, 1973 (Constitution). However, regarding approval of the resignations, the NA Speaker says, “there are some rules and regulations and limitations”.
Justifying the delay in the acceptance of resignations, he says “the speaker has the responsibility to make sure that the MNAs (who are resigning) are not under pressure.” The NA Speaker is of the view that some of the lawmakers had moved the courts, pleading that they didn’t tender the resignations, some applied for leaves and others used to leave after marking attendance in the assembly.
In a way that is detrimental to the constitutional provisions, the NA Speaker wants personal verification from PTI leaders to maintain “privacy”. Claiming that some PTI lawmakers had requested him not to accept their resignations, NA Speaker makes it mandatory that all those MNAs who had tendered their resignations have to satisfy him first as they were not being pressurised to resign. But in the constitutional and other provisions, there is no mention of seeking personal verification from the resigning members of a political party to maintain “privacy”. Article 64(1) of the Constitution reads: “A Member of Majlise-Shoora (Parliament) may, by writing under his hand addressed to the Speaker or, as the case may be, the Chairman resign his seat, and thereupon his seat shall become vacant.” Its sub-article 2 says: “A House may declare the seat of a member vacant if, without leave of the House, he remains absent for forty consecutive days of its sittings.”
In addition, what the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the National Assembly, 2007 (Rules) require is to ensure that “the letter of resignation is voluntary and genuine”. Rule 43(2) of the Rules reads: “If,- (a) a member hands over the letter of resignation to the Speaker personally and informs him that the resignation is voluntary and genuine and the Speaker has no information or knowledge to the contrary; or (b) the Speaker receives the letter of resignation by any other means and he, after such inquiry as he thinks fit, either himself or through the National Assembly Secretariat or any other agency, is satisfied that the resignation is voluntary and genuine, the Speaker shall inform the Assembly of the resignation…”
Over satisfaction that the letter is voluntary and genuine, it is caused to be published in the Gazette and a notification to the effect issued, and a copy of the same is forwarded to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for taking steps to fill the vacancy thus caused. Rule 44 of the Rules says: “If a member is absent without leave of the Assembly, for forty consecutive days of its sittings, the Speaker shall bring the fact to the notice of the Assembly and thereupon any member may move that the seat of the member who has been so absent be declared vacant under clause (2) of Article 64”. Rule 44(2) of the Rules provides: “On consideration of the motion moved under sub-rule (1), the House may defer, reject or accept the motion and if motion is accepted the seat of the member shall be declared vacant.”
As PTI has genuinely however desperately made repeated attempts to seek final approval from the NA, the Speaker on the resignations of its leaders from NA but the issue remains unsettled, thus, it has decided to take the unresolved matter to the apex court. PTI has already filed a petition in the Supreme Court challenging a verdict passed by the Islamabad High Court (IHC) not declaring that the acceptance of resignations of 123 lawmakers by the (then) NA Deputy Speaker had taken effect and that the Speaker has no power or jurisdiction regarding verification thereof. In the petition filed before IHC, PTI had also requested the court to give another declaration that the speaker is bound to forward the 123 accepted resignations to ECP to enable it to de-notify them and issue a schedule for the bypolls.
However, then IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah dismissed the petition. The purported motive behind the toppling of the PTI government surfaced and the political perception against this alliance was validated when they took legal steps to change the laws of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB). The current PML-N-led government introduced the laws whereby they have managed to drastically change NAB laws to their favour. As a result, all the pending references involving charges of corruption and corrupt practices against the federal government, especially, the PMLN and PPP leaders have become ineffectual.
Furthermore, they have also made themselves immune from any prosecution for corruption and corrupt practices in the future too. Now, the only way to restore the public trust in the assembly and our political system is to hold fresh and fair elections. In these circumstances, sitting in the Lower House would amount to tacit approval of the current government and the way it was acquired by PDM.
Also, Supreme Court Judge Mansoor Ali Shah stated last month that the apex court could intervene to get the resignations accepted within a few days. Hearing a petition challenging change to the NAB law, Justice Shah remarked that the lawmakers’ constituencies could not be kept hanging for so long, as it is against the concept of parliamentary democracy.
He was of the view that lawmakers cannot keep their constituents in limbo. It is also strange that PTI members, whose resignations have not yet been accepted, were drawing salaries without holding their seats in the National Assembly. As the PDM government’s incapability, having the sole agenda of saving their vested interests and anti-people policies are no longer a secret now, a solution to the people’s unending woes amidst worsening national crises seems impossible in the current political setup.
https://www.nation.com.pk/17-Jan-2023/pdm-in-fear-of-defeat
