ISLAMABAD: Opposition parties including Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (JUI-F) moved motions on Wednesday to vacatethe seats of 28 Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf (PTI) members of the National Assembly (MNAs) under clause 2 of article 64 of the constitution of Pakistan.
The PTI MNAs were absent without leave in the assembly sittings for forty consecutive days.
The motions were moved by the JUI-F and the MQM MNAs under rule 44 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the National Assembly, 2007.
The MQM members that moved the motion include Farooq Sattar, Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui, Syed Waseem Hussain, Muhammad Salman Khan Baloch, Khawaja Sohail Mansoor, SA Iqbal Qadri, Mehboob Alam, Abdul Waseem, Sheikh Salahuddin, Muhammd Rehan Hashmi, Sufyan Yusuf, Syed Ali Raza Abidi, Abdul Rashid Godil, Muhammad Muzammil Qureshi, Muhammad Ali Rashid, Syed Asif Hasnain, Iqbal Muhammad Ali khan, Sajid Ahmed, Sanjay Perwani, Dr Fouzia Hameed, Kishwer Zehra, Dr Nikhat Shakeel Khan and Saman Sultana Jafri.
The JUI-F MNAs who moved the motion include Lal Chand, Naeema Kishwer Khan, Asiya Nasir, Shahida Akhtar Ali, Aliya Kamran, Dr Ibadullah, Molvi Agha Muhammad, Qari Muhammad Yousaf, Molauna Muhammad Gohar Shah.
National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq said that the consideration of motions regarding the de-seating of PTI MNAs will be taken up after seven days under 'Rules & Procedures'.
The names of the PTI MNAs mentioned in the motion include: Engineer Hamidul Haq, Asad Umar, Sajid Nawaz, Ghulam Sarwar Khan, Imran Khattak, Imran Khan, Engineer Ali Muhammad Khan Advocate, Amjad Ali Khan, Mujahid Ali, Shafqat Mehmood, Aqibullah, Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Hussain Qureshi, Shehryar Afridi, Rai Hassan Nawaz Khan, Khiyal Zaman Orakzai, Arif Alvi, Dr Muhammad Azhar Khan Jadoon, Dr Shireen Mehrunnisa Mazari, Dawar Khan Kundi, Munaza Hassan, Col (retd) Ameerullah Marwat, Nafeesa Inyatullah Khan Khattak, Murad Saeed, Sajida Begum, Junaid Akbar, Ayesha Gulalai, Qaiser Jamal and Lal Chand.
PTI announced on August 18 last year that it would boycott the national and provincial assembles as all other options of relief against alleged election rigging were exhausted. However, earlier this month, the party decided to join parliament after almost seven months of absence from the assemblies.
Know more: PTI decides to join Parliament after seven-month boycott
Following PTI's participation in the Parliament's joint session on the Yemen conflict, MQM leader Farooq Sattar had termed their participation unconstitutional. He had said that MQM may boycott NA proceedings until it was given an explanation regarding the attendance of PTI lawmakers in the Parliament.
Read: Farooq Sattar terms PTI participation in NA 'unconstitutional'
Sattar had said that if a parliamentarian remained absent from House proceedings for 40 consecutive days, then he/she was automatically de-seated from NA membership.
He had further said there was "no question of accepting or not accepting a resignation...a resignation is a resignation and takes on constitutional importance once it is tendered."
