Islamabad:
Opposition legislators Pakistan Tehreek-E-Insaf (PTI) abandoned on Wednesday the presidency of several permanent committees of the National Assembly, implementing the leadership directives of PTI, party officials said.
Speaking to the media, the president of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), Junaid Akbar, confirmed that he had resigned after the leadership directives of the party. “Implementing the leadership directives of the party is a collective responsibility of all members,” he said.
PTI Information Secretary Sheikh Waqas Akram also resigned from PAC and the Information Committee. “After the instructions of our leader Imran Khan, I presented my resignation this morning of the Public Accounts Committee and the Information Committee,” he said in X.
The main whip of PTI in the National Assembly, Malik Amir Dogar, confirmed that PTI members in the permanent committees had begun to present their resignations after the directives of the founder of the Imran Khan party.
He mentioned that the PTI chief had granted the positions to the party members in the parliamentary committees, and his instructions would be followed in a letter and spirit. “The PTI parliamentary team defends the decisions of the party leadership and will continue to follow the instructions from the top.”
In addition, the leaders of PTI Faisal Amin and Ali Asghar presented their resignations of their positions in the permanent committees of the National Assembly. His formal resignations have been presented to the Secretariat of the National Assembly.
Asghar has renounced the permanent committees in the Cabinet Secretariat, privatization and planning and development, while Amin renounced the permanent committees of economic affairs and national food security.
Currently, PTI has a representation in 29 permanent committees, and its members preside over eight of these committees. The PTI panel member at the PAC, Sanullah Mastikhel, confirmed that PTI members would renounce all parliamentary committees.
Previously, all members of PTI boycotted the PAC session on Wednesday, except the Senator of PTI, Mohsin Aziz, who attended the meeting by video link but left halfway in protest. During the session, the Secretary of the Committee expressed concern about Akbar’s absence.
A day before, Imran Khan had ordered the party not to participate in the next partial elections. He also advised parliamentary members to renounce all the committees and sent the matter to the political committee of the party for the final consultation.
The instructions were transmitted after a meeting in Adiala’s prison with their sisters, Aleema Khan and Uzma Khan, as well as the leaders of the high leaders of the Gohar Ali Khan party, Salman Akram Raja and the lawyer Ali Zafar.
In line with the instructions of the founding president of the party, the political committee of PTI, after extensive deliberations at a meeting, unanimously backed the boycott and resolved that the legislators of the party in the National Assembly would renounce the memberships of their committee.
According to the sources of the party, the meeting was convened to draw PTI’s electoral strategy following the recent disqualifications that have created vacancies for the cocks of the National and Provincial Assembly. The members who gave their views on whether the party should dispute the elections were explicitly asked.
Boicotear’s proposal was approved unanimously, with superior leaders, including Sanoullah Masti Khel, Barríster Gohar, Sheikh Waqas Akram and Amir Dogar, firmly supporting the measure, qualifying it as consistent with the Imran Khan guide.
