National Assembly Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf has at last accepted all but two PTI MNAs’ long-standing demand to accept their en-masse resignations, though only when there were hints of their possible return to parliament.

The PTI had announced mass resignations from the National Assembly in April last year, a day after party chief Imran Khan’s ouster as the prime minister through a no-confidence vote and shortly before Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif was elected as his successor.

The first 11

Initially, the National Assembly speaker on July 28, 2022 accepted the resignations of only 11 of the 131 PTI lawmakers who had resigned.

1. Abdul Shakoor Shad
2. Ali Muhammad Khan
3. Fakhar Zaman Khan
4. Farrukh Habib
5. Fazal Muhammad Khan
6. Ijaz Ahmed Shah
7. Jamil Ahmed Khan
8. Muhammad Akram Cheema
9. Shandana Gulzar Khan (reserved seat for women)
10. Shaukat Ali and
11. Dr Shireen Mehrunnisa Mazari (reserved seat for women)

The 34 plus one in surprise move

Ashraf had been insisting till at least Dec 29, 2022 that the resignations would only be accepted once the party lawmakers verified their resignations in person on an individual basis, whereas the MNAs were adamant that they be accepted in one go.

However, days after Imran said that Shehbaz will be “tested” through a confidence vote in a tit-for-tat move, Ashraf on Jan 17 accepted the resignations of 34 PTI MNAs along with one of Awami Muslim League chief Sheikh Rashid.

The move, expectedly, resulted in a huge uproar from PTI leaders who termed it a “clumsy attempt to run away from general elections”.

1. Aftab Hussain Saddique
2. Aftab Jehangir
3. Ali Amin Khan
4. Ali Nawaz Awan
5. Aliya Hamza Malik (reserved seat for women)
6. Asad Qaiser
7. Asad Umar
8. Ataullah
9. Faheem Khan
10. Fawad Ahmed
11. Ghulam Sarwar Khan
12. Hammad Azhar
13. Imran Khattak
14. Kanwal Shauzab (reserved seat for women)
15. Malik Muhammad Amir Dogar
16. Mansoor Hayat Khan
17. Muhammad Alamgir Khan
18. Muhammad Aslam Khan
19. Muhammad Najeeb Haroon
20. Murad Saeed
21. Noorul Haq Qadri
22. Omar Ayub Khan
23. Pervaiz Khattak
24. Qasim Khan Suri
25. Raja Khurram Shahzad Nawaz
26. Sadaqat Ali Khan
27. Saifur Rehman
28. Sanaullah Khan Mastikhel
29. Shafqat Mahmood
30. Shah Mahmood Qureshi
31. Sheharyar Afridi
32. Sheikh Rashid Shafique
33. Syed Ali Haider Zaidi
34. Zartaj Gul
35. Sheikh Rashid Ahmed (AML chief)

The next 35 in feared move

Ashraf defended his prior action saying he only did so after the PTI lawmakers were able to “satisfy him” by proving that the resignations were a “voluntary decision and not under pressure”.

A day after this statement, the National Assembly speaker accepted 35 more PTI MNAs’ resignations on Jan 20, making the total reach 80.

1. Aamer Mehmood Kiani (NA-61)
2. Abdul Majeed Khan (NA-187)
3. Ali Khan Jadoon (NA-16)
4. Amjad Ali Khan (NA-96)
5. Andaleeb Abbas (reserved seat)
6. Arbab Amir Ayub (NA-28)
7. Asma Qadeer (reserved seat)
8. Aurangzeb Khan Khichi (NA-165)
9. Chaudhry Shoukat Ali Bhab (NA-87)
10. Faizullah (NA-109)
11. Gul Dad Khan (NA-40)
12. Dr Haider Ali Khan (NA-2)
13. Ibraheem Khan (NA-158)
14. Junaid Akbar (NA-8)
15. Khurram Shahzad (NA-107)
16. Makhdoom Khusro BakhBar (NA-177)
17. Maleeka Ali Bokhari (reserved seat)
18. Malik Karamat Ali Khokhar (NA-135)
19. Mehboob Shah (NA-6)
20. Mohammad Iqbal Khan (NA-44)
21. Muhammad Bashir Khan (NA-7)
22. Mujahid Ali (NA-20)
23. Munawara Bibi Baloch (reserved seat)
24. Sahibzada Sibghatullah (NA-5)
25. Sajid Khan (NA-42)
26. Saleem Rehman (NA-3)
27. Shahid Ahmed (NA-34)
28. Sher Akbar Khan (NA-9)
29. Sher Ali Arbab (NA-30)
30. Syed Faiz ul Hassan (NA-70)
31. Syed Fakhar Imam (NA-150)
32. Tahir Iqbal (NA-164)
33. Umar Aslam Khan (NA-93)
34. Engr Usman Khan Tarakai (NA-19)
35. Zahoor Hussain Qureshi (NA-152)

The last 43 in an opposed move

With the resignations of 45 more PTI lawmakers left to be accepted, the PTI MNAs swung into action to stop Ashraf from making his next predicted move.

On Jan 23, 45 PTI MNAs collectively withdrew their resignations from the National Assembly in an attempt to take back the posts of the leader of the opposition and parliamentary party leader, according to Fawad Chaudhry.

However, the Election Commission of Pakistan denotified 43 of those lawmakers on Jan 25, a day after reports emerged of Ashraf accepting more resignations.

The PTI leaders strongly protested against the acceptance when the reports circulated in the media. Chaudhry said in a tweet that 40 per cent of seats in the NA were now empty. “The only solution to this crisis is elections.”

1. Anwar Taj (NA-23)
2. Fauzia Behram (reserved seat for women, Punjab)
3. Ghazala Saifi (reserved seat for women, Sindh)
4. Gul Zafar Khan (NA-41)
5. Haji Imtiaz Ahmed Choudhary (NA-85)
6. Jai Parkash (reserved seat for non-Muslim)
7. Jamshed Thomas (reserved seat for non-Muslim)
8. Javed Iqbal (NA-179)
9. Jawad Hussain (NA-47)
10. Khawaja Sheraz Mehmood (NA-189)
11. Lal Chand (reserved seat for non-Muslim)
12. Malik Muhammad Ehsan Ullah Tiwana (NA-94)
13. Mian Muhammad Shafiq (NA-161)
14. Muhammad Ahmeer Sultan (NA-116)
15. Muhammad Farooq Azam Malik (NA-170)
16. Muhammad Mehboob Sultan (NA-114)
17. Muhammad Riaz Khan (NA-113)
18. Muhammad Shabbir Ali (NA-181)
19. Muhammad Yaqoob (NA-39)
20. Munaza Hassan (reserved seat for women, Punjab)
21. Nafeesa Inayatullah Khan Khattak (reserved seat for women, KP)
22. Nausheen Hamid (reserved seat for women, Punjab)
23. Niaz Ahmed (NA-188)
24. Nooreen Farooq Khan (reserved seat for women, KP)
25. Nusrat Wahid (reserved seat for women, Sindh)
26. Rahat Aman Ullah Bhatti (NA-119)
27. Rai Muhammad Murtaza Iqbal (NA-149)
28. Raza Nasrullah (NA-105)
29. Rubina Jamil (reserved seat for women, Punjab)
30. Rukhsana Naveed (reserved seat for women, Punjab)
31. Sajida Begum (reserved seat for women, KP)
32. Sardar Muhammad Khan Leghari (NA-192)
33. Sardar Nasrullah Khan Dreshak (NA-194)
34. Dr Seemin Abdul Rehman Bokhari (reserved seat for women, Punjab)
35. Shaheen Naz Saifullah (reserved seat for women, KP)
36. Shunila Ruth (reserved seat for non-Muslim)
37. Sobia Kamal Khan (reserved seat for women, Punjab)
38. Syma Nadeem (reserved seat for women, Sindh)
39. Tahir Sadiq (NA-55)
40. Tashfeen Safdar (reserved seat for women, Punjab)
41. Uzma Riaz (reserved seat for women, KP)
42. Zille Huma (reserved seat for women, KP)
43. Zulfiqar Ali Khan (NA-64)

The total number of PTI MNAs whose resignations have been accepted stands at 123, excluding ally Rashid.

Header: A collage showing (from top left to bottom right) PTI Vice-Chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Secretary General Asad Umar, leaders Asad Qaiser, Dr Shireen Mazari, Pervez Khattak, Maleeka Ali Bokhari, Shafqat Mahmood and Andaleeb Abbas — all whose resignations from the NA have been accepted as of Jan 26. — File photos