ISLAMABAD: The legal wrangling which began after National Assembly Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ash­raf acce­pted the resignations of 11 PTI members in July took a new turn on Tuesday as the party approached the Supr­eme Court against the high court’s decision.

The party moved a petition challenging the Sept 6 order of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) to dismiss the PTI’s plea against the phase-wise acceptance of their lawmakers’ resignations.

All PTI lawmakers had resigned en masse on April 11, two days after former pri­me minister Imran Khan was ousted from the top office.

In the latest petition, mo­­ved through counsel Faisal Fareed, the party has requ­ested the apex court to set aside the high court’s order.

The speaker, the ECP, the federation through cabinet secretary and all 123 lawmakers have been named as respondents in the petition.

The petition argued that after the change of the government allegedly orchestrated as a consequence of foreign conspiracy and intervention, the PTI’s leadership took a policy decision to protest against it.

“To seek a fresh mandate from the people, the party decided to get all its elected members resigned en-bloc from the National Assembly.”

The decision was made in the parliamentary party meeting on April 11, chaired by PTI Chairman Imran Khan, it added.

The petition pleaded that Mr Ashraf has no authority to ‘sit over’ the accepted resignations.

Calling the IHC’s decision “vague, cursory and against the law”, the petition argued the court didn’t address legal and constitutional questions.

Published in Dawn, September 14th, 2022