ISLAMABAD: The issue of resignations by the lawmakers of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf continues to trouble National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq as he has once again sought their personal appearance in his office for confirmation of their decision – a mandatory requirement.

In a notice addressed to the resigning PTI MNAs on Friday, the speaker set Oct 29 as last date for their personal appearance so that he could forward their resignations to the Election Com­mission for further process.

Also read: PTI leaders ‘miss appointment’ with NA speaker

“You are requested to meet the speaker in his chamber on Wednesday (Oct 29) at 2pm for verification of your resignation. In case you do not present yourself before the speaker on the given date and time, it will be presumed that you are not willing to go through the legal and transparent process of verification of your resignation, in which case the speaker will not be legally in a position to verify your resignation and inform the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) accordingly,” said the notice dispatched to the PTI MNAs.

Explaining the language of the notice, an official of the National Assembly Secretariat said that until the PTI lawmakers individually visited the speaker’s office, their resignations would not be accepted.

On the other hand, the PTT reiterated that it had submitted the resignations and it was now up to the speaker to accept or reject them.

There are 34 PTI lawmakers in the National Assembly. Three of them refused to abide by the party decision to quit the assembly, while Javed Hashmi announced his resignation during a speech at a joint session of parliament and was accepted. Resignations of five of the MNAs were declared invalid because these were addressed to the PTI chairman, instead of the speaker. Therefore, the speaker issued notices to 25 PTI MNAs.

And there is more to the latest development. The speaker has been under immense pressure after Imran Khan repeatedly demanded the acceptance of resignations of his party’s legislators. The media has also targeted the speaker for his inaction on the issue.

After a meeting with leaders of parliamentary parties on Wednesday, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was of the opinion that the acceptance of resignation would only aggravate the already volatile political situation in the country.

In this context, the speaker was forced to get his office absolved of this responsibility. On Wednesday, Mr Sadiq held a meeting with Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan and Science and Technology Minister Zahid Hamid. The notices to PTI legislators were issued after the meeting, a source close to the development told Dawn.

The speaker argued in the notice how could he ask the ECP to declare their seats vacant for by-elections without having met the PTI lawmakers.

“Under Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the National Assembly, 2007, the speaker is required to satisfy himself that a resignation is voluntary, without outside pressure and genuine before informing the assembly of the resignation,” the notice said.

It also carried details about how and when the PTI leadership sent in their resignations en bloc to the speaker’s office.

“Please note that the undersigned [speaker] received resignations of PTI members in bulk, including yours, on Aug 22, 2014. Subsequently, 25 PTI members, including yourself, led by Makhdoom Shah Mehmmod Qureshi, participated in the joint sitting of parliament on Sep 3, 2014, where he also made a speech on the floor of the house.

“However, when Mr Qureshi was asked by the speaker to meet him in his chamber in connection with the verification of resignations, he left the house, along with the other members, without going through the process of verification.

“Therefore, he [speaker] decided to request the members who had apparently submitted resignations to personally meet him for verification of their resignations. Accordingly, you were requested vide letter dated 22-09-2014 to personally meet the speaker in this chamber. However, you neither met him nor intimated the reasons of your absence; instead a letter was received form Mr Qureshi by the speaker with the request to call all the PTI members on a single date to verify their resignations.

“In view of the above, the speaker directed that all the PTI members who have apparently resigned may come on one day but the verification of resignations will be carried out individually by the speaker to determine that each resignation is voluntary and genuine, a prerequisite which is dictated by law and the Rules of Business of the National Assembly,” the notice said.

Published in Dawn, October 25th , 2014