ISLAMABAD: National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq continues to insist that he wants to meet Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) members of parliament, who have submitted their resignations, in person to verify their intention to quit the house.

But PTI Vice Chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi maintains that all 30 members submitted their resignations en masse and, therefore, these should be accepted simultaneously.

Also read: NA speaker to ask PTI members to ‘confirm’ resignations

Meanwhile, media wing of the National Assembly issued on Wednesday a very specific clarification, arguing that under 43(2)b of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business of the National Assembly, the speaker was bound to personally verify a resigning lawmaker’s intentions.

Legal experts say no need for personal verification of intention to quit

The rule says: “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 through any other agency, is satisfied that the resignation is voluntary and genuine, the speaker shall inform the assembly of the resignation: provided that if a member resigns his seat, when the assembly is not in session, the speaker shall direct that intimation of his resignation specifying the date of the resignation be given to every member immediately.”

On Tuesday, the PTI wrote to the speaker asking him to invite them as a group for the verification of their resignations.

In this context, according to the official release from the NA secretariat, the speaker’s office has again asked PTI lawmakers to meet him as per the schedule already agreed upon.

On the other hand, the PTI parliamentary party, following its meeting on Wednesday, has decided not to follow the speaker’s instructions and will stick to its earlier stance, i.e. that no-one will go to the speaker’s office.

However, former law minister and constitutional expert S.M. Zafar told Dawn that there was no need for a personal audience with MNAs, as was being demanded by the speaker’s office. Quoting Article 64(1) of the Constitution, he contended that merely submitting one’s written resignation was more than enough.

Article 64(1) states: “A member of the parliament may by writing under his hand addressed to the speaker resign his seat, and thereupon his seat shall become vacant.” According to the Article 64(2), “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.”

It is quite obvious, Mr Zafar insists, that the National Assembly speaker can, without any further delay, accept resignations of the PTI lawmakers as per the law.

Jamaat-i-Islami Emir Sirajul Haq has urged the speaker to delay accepting the resignations until a mediating opposition has had time to attempt rapprochement between the two opposing sides.

But the PTI leadership claims to have certain apprehensions. “The government lobby is on a mission to create friction within our ranks and are employing every possible tactic to achieve their objective,” PTI chief whip Dr Arif Alvi told Dawn.

“The government has already ‘bought’ three of our MNAs – Gulzar Khan, Nasir Khattak and Mussarrat Zaib – hence, we have every reason to stay on our guard against the PML-N, which has the history of buying people out,” he said when asked if there was a chance that certain party lawmakers could change their decision to resign.

Short of accusing the speaker directly, Dr Alvi said these one-on-one meetings were only meant to put pressure on the PTI lawmakers to change their decision of leaving the National Assembly.

Amjad Mahmood adds from Lahore: The speaker of Punjab Assembly speaker has decided to invite PTI’s MPAs in batches of three and four to verify that they submitted their resignations without any coercion.

In the first stage, Waheed Asghar Dogar, Nabeela Hakim Khan, Malik Taimur Masood and Raja Rashid Hafeez have been asked to meet Speaker Rana Muhammad Iqbal on Monday.

The speaker told journalists on Wednesday that he had received resignations from 29 PTI legislators through the assembly secretary.

Under Article 64(1) of the Constitution, any elected representative may tender his resignation in writing on a plain paper addressed to the speaker.

Citing Section 35 (2-B) of the Punjab Assembly’s Rules of Procedure 1997 and Supreme Court orders, Rana Iqbal said he had been entrusted with the responsibility of satisfying himself that the resignation was not tendered under coercion, particularly if it was sent through some other channel instead of personal appearance before him.

To follow the law and procedure, he argued, he had to invite PTI members to appear before him individually as except a few of them all others had sent their resignations through other channels.

The resignations were handed over by leader of opposition Mian Mahmoodur Rashid, who is also a member of PTI’s core committee, in the presence of media on Aug 27.

MPA Nighat Intisar Bhatti, who recently won a seat from Hafizabad district in a by-election, is yet to tender her resignation. PTI leaders said she was out of the country and would resign after returning home.

Published in Dawn, September 25th, 2014