Ex-PM Khan’s party resigns en masse from Pakistan parliament

ISLAMABAD: Former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan’s party on Monday resigned en masse from the National Assembly of Pakistan, as the lower house of parliament met to elect the new prime minister of the South Asian country. 
The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party of the ousted former premier earlier announced its parliamentarians would resign en masse during Monday’s session of the National Assembly. 
In his address, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, who was the PTI’s candidate for the post of prime minister, said the people of Pakistan had decided to reject this coalition of opposition parties and they demonstrated it on Sunday. 
“We do not want to participate in a sin to legitimize an illegitimate government,” Shah Mahmood Qureshi said in his speech. 
“The friends of PTI have decided not to be part of this unjust act. We seek a free Pakistan. Today we are announcing our resignation.” 
PTI members and allies left the National Assembly hall shortly after Qureshi’s announcement. 
Opposition leader Shehbaz Sharif is the favorite to win the parliamentary vote after a weeks-long constitutional crisis that ended on Sunday when Khan was booted out of office through a no-confidence vote. 
The process to elect the new prime minister is under way in the National Assembly. 
Khan’s PTI had nominated former foreign minister and close Khan aide Shah Mahmood Qureshi as its candidate for premier. 
The PTI has already said if Qureshi loses its members would resign en masse from parliament. The speaker would then have to accept the resignations and by-elections would need to be held on around 100 seats. 
The country could be plunged into a new round of turmoil with the election commission having said it would not be ready to hold general elections until at least October. 
Buoyed by hopes for political stability, the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Monday rose 1,429.52 or 3.2 percent at start of trading. The Pakistani rupee strengthened to 183.25 against the dollar, the Pakistan Exchange Companies Association said, after closing at a record low of 188 on Thursday.