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GUJRANWALA: Energy Minister Khurram Dastgir has criticised a Lahore High Court (LHC) verdict that set aside decisions of the Election Commission and the National Assembly speaker to accept the resignations of 72 PTI lawmakers, whereas PTI President Parvez Elahi has welcomed the move and hoped it could help ease political tension.
Mr Dastgir told reporters in Gujranwala on Saturday that there was no clause in the Constitution that could withdraw the National Assembly speaker’s decision to accept lawmakers’ resignations. He said the speaker had the privilege to either accept or reject the resignations of house members.
The written short order of the LHC on petitions filed by PTI leaders Shafqat Mahmood and Riaz Ahmad Fatyana was issued on Saturday, paving the way for the return of over 70 lawmakers to the National Assembly.
The judge directed the lawmakers to personally appear before the speaker to withdraw their resignations and directed the speaker to decide the matter after personally hearing each member.
Energy minister says lawmakers’ resignations accepted by NA speaker can’t be withdrawn
The 72 MNAs were among those who resigned en masse after PTI chief Imran Khan was ousted from power last year through a no-confidence motion.
Mr Dastgir also denounced the May 9 events in which rioters vandalised and torched civil and military installations after Mr Khan was arrested from Islamabad.
He regretted that the former prime minister was not ready to accept responsibility for the violent incidents.
Our Staff Reporter adds: Meanwhile, Mr Elahi welcomed the LHC decision to restore the membership of PTI members of the National Assembly. “If this process of restoration goes ahead, there can be a peaceful solution to the political crisis in the federation and the provinces,” he said in a statement from Lahore.
The Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa caretaker governments had constitutionally been abolished, he said, adding: “In Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, we will approach the judiciary to end the illegal caretaker governments.”
He accused the “puppet caretaker government” of trying to worsen the situation in Punjab again. “Caretaker chief minister Mohsin Naqvi and his gang are on an anti-national agenda,” he alleged.
Mr Elahi also flayed the interim Punjab government for claiming that “terrorists” were hiding at Mr Khan’s Zaman Park residence in Lahore but failing to launch any operation in the presence of international media.
The PTI, he said, would remain united under the leadership of Imran Khan and the “political nomads” leaving the party were of no importance, as the party had already rejected them.
He said any attempt to break the PTI from inside and outside would not succeed because it was the most popular party in the country.