The issue of PTI resignations from the National Assembly remains unresolved as the Speaker of the lower house of the Parliament Raja Pervaiz Ashraf has categorically denied accepting the resignations of PTI lawmakers in one go. Both sides have continued to stick to their original position, resulting in this impasse. The stalemate in these discussions has all but deprived the National Assembly of any real or constructive opposition, which goes against accepted democratic norms.
For PTI, bullishly sticking to the stance of getting all resignations accepted makes no sense, considering each has to be verified for its veracity by the speaker according to rules and procedures. This procedure is in place to prevent lawmakers from being coerced to hand over their resignations, and it seems that the PTI’s reluctance stems from the fact that some of the resignations might not have come voluntarily, as is being claimed by the party. There are already reports with specific lawmakers identified, that have claimed that their resignations are not real and that signatures have been faked on their behalf.
It is clear that the PTI wants an exit from the National Assembly, but the party leadership must set its own house in order before putting the matter in front of the speaker. If it can rid its rank of dissension, individual resignations will no longer be a problem.
The PDM alliance on its part is also only sticking to its demand for political expediency. The alliance is aware that some members of PTI might not have consented to resign, and thus want to speak to each lawmaker individually, away from the larger group.
But it is important to remember that the speaker has already accepted the resignation of 11 lawmakers including Imran Khan—those it claimed announced their resignation on the floor of the parliament. A skeptic would see this as awfully convenient, considering that the 11 resignations accepted are all part of the core leadership group of PTI.
The constant bickering between both sides is getting exceedingly tiring and is holding up important state business as a result. Both sides need to step back from the maximalist positions currently being taken.
