ISLAMABAD: Political crisis deepened in Pakistan on Monday as the Lahore High Court (LHC) suspended the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) denotification of all Punjab lawmakers from the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party of Former Prime Minister Imran Khan.
The PTI had resigned en masse from the lower house of parliament, the National Assembly, following Khan’s ouster in April last year in a parliamentary vote of no confidence. NA speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, however, only accepted 11 of the resignations, saying the remaining lawmakers would be summoned individually for verification.
After months of delays, however, finally accepted the resignations of 81 PTI lawmakers in three separate phases. The lawmakers were subsequently denotified by the election regulator.
A total of 70 PTI lawmakers, including PTI senior leaders Asad Umar, Chaudhry Fawad Hussain, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Andleeb Abbas and Pervaiz Khattak, last week filed a petition with the LHC, seeking that the court nullify Ashraf’s acceptance of the resignations and the subsequent order issued by the ECP.
“In its order today, the high court only suspended the ECP order for the MNAs belonging to Punjab,” Dawn reported. “The status of those from other provinces remained unclear, while the court’s written orders are awaited.”
The court issued notices to the ECP as well as the NA speaker and adjourned the hearing till March 7.
Analysts say the PTI, which initially threatened the en masse resignations to force early general elections, now wants to maintain its presence in the national legislature so it can be part of the consultative process for the appointment of the interim setup ahead of the general elections later this year. The party is eying the leader of the opposition slot, who has a direct say in choosing the interim government.
