PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan on Thursday resigned from four standing committees in the National Assembly (NA), he confirmed in comments to Dawn.com.

PTI lawmakers have begun resigning from membership and chairmanship of all standing committees in the NA after instructions from party founder Imran Khan, after the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) in July and August disqualified a large number of PTI members and leaders in relation to their involvement in the May 9, 2023 riots against Imran’s arrest.

“I resigned from the committees based on the instructions of the PTI founder and the political committee,” Gohar said over the phone. “I submitted my resignation to the speaker’s office and resigned from the committees on law and justice, human rights, IT and the House Business Advisory Committee.”

PTI Chief Whip Aamir Dogar also announced his resignation from NA standing committees in a post on X, where he wrote that he submitted the resignations upon the instructions of the party founder and ex-premier.

“I am a true soldier of Imran Khan, and no position holds more meaning than my leader,” he wrote. “The sole purpose of my politics is Imran Khan’s mission, Pakistan’s true independence and service to the people.”

He enclosed a photo of his resignation letter with the X post, which outlined that he resigned from the NA standing committees on religious affairs and interfaith harmony, the Public Accounts Committee, energy (Power Division) and the committee on Rules of Procedure and Privileges.

Meanwhile, NA Director General (Media) Zafar Sultan Khan confirmed to Dawn.com that 18 PTI members, including Gohar, resigned from standing committees.

“Barrister Gohar submitted the resignations of 18 PTI members, including himself, from standing committees,” he said in a voice note, adding that PTI members are part of 34 standing committees in the House.

The list of resigning PTI members, provided by DG Sultan, is as follows:

• Amjad Ali Khan
• Sahibzada Sibghatullah
• Mahboob Shah
• Junaid Akbar
• Gohar Ali Khan
• Shahzada Muhammad Gustasap Khan
• Ali Jadoon
• Mujahid Ali
• Malik Anwar Taj
• Fazal Muhammad Khan
• Sajid Khan
• Arbab Amir Ayub
• Asif Khan
• Sheikh Waqas Akram
• Arshad Sahi
• Malik Aamir Dogar
• Shabir Ali Qureshi
• Awais Jhakkar

Yesterday, DG Sultan told Dawn.com that Ali Asghar Khan and Faisal Amin had sent their resignations as standing committee members to NA Speaker Ayaz Sadiq.

A statement from Dogar also said: “PTI members of the National Assembly have started acting on the instructions of founding chairman Imran Khan. PTI members of standing committees have started sending their resignations. Many members have submitted their resignations to the National Assembly Secretariat.”

However, a senior official in the secretariat, on condition of anonymity, said that the speaker had yet to receive any of the resignation letters.

The resignation announcement took place following a meeting of PTI’s political committee that ended at 3:30am on Wednesday, according to PTI MNA Sanaullah Khan Mastikhel.