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ISLAMABAD: Whatever may appear on the agenda, the National Assembly, which resumes its session on Thursday after a week-long recess, is likely to be haunted, if not dominated, by the resignation of its members who have recently joined or showed their intention to join Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaaf that has no representation in parliament.
According to sources, the National Assembly Secretariat has already received resignations of three members. Another four who have already joined the PTI are expected to submit their resignations in the next couple of days.
The Senate Secretariat has received the resignation of Azam Swati who had quit the JUI-F and joined the PTI. Jamal Leghari of the PML-Q (now in PTI) has already announced that he will submit his resignation soon.
Interestingly, National Assembly Speaker Dr Fehmida Mirza has so far not accepted any resignation, including that of former foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, who had sent his resignation on Nov 14, two weeks before joining the PTI.
When contacted, a PTI leader claimed that the speaker had been waiting for a green signal from the presidency because the PPP was still unable to devise a strategy to regain the seat it had lost in Multan because of Mr Qureshi’s resignation.
After a successful public meeting by Imran Khan in Lahore on Oct 30 and later Mr Qureshi’s decision to join the PTI, a number of prominent personalities and political heavyweights, including sitting legislators, from almost all major political parties, have jumped on the PTI bandwagon.
According to the sources, former PML-N senior vice-president Makhdoom Javed Hashmi, who had joined the PTI last week in Karachi, is expected to formally announce his resignation after a speech in the National Assembly on a point of order on Thursday.
He will also announce the resignation of her daughter Maimoona Hashmi, who was elected on a PML-N ticket.
The sources, however, said it was not clear whether Mr Hashmi would hand over his resignation directly to the speaker or route it through the PML-N leadership because he had indicated to some of his friends that he might send his resignation to Nawaz Sharif.
Similarly, the sources said, PML-F MNA from Rahimyar Khan Jahangir Tareen and ANP MNA from Mardan Khwaja Mohammad Khan Hoti had also sent their resignations to the speaker.
A source in the PTI said it had been decided that Awais Leghari, who won the National Assembly seat from Dera Ghazi Khan on a PML-Q ticket during a by-election a few months ago, would not quit his seat and he was ready to face any show-cause or reference if sent by the PML-Q leadership.
Meanwhile, a source in the NA Secretariat told Dawn that Suriya Jatoi of the PPP would take oath of MNA on Thursday on a reserved seat from Sindh.
She was declared MNA by the Election Commission last week on the seat which fell vacant after the resignation of Sherry Rehman, who had been nominated as Pakistan’s new ambassador to Washington.
