Pak Opposition party leader Ayaz Sadiq says Imran Khan 'forcefully' taking resignations from PTI MNAs

Pakistan Muslim League - Nawaz (PML-N) leader Ayaz Sadiq on Wednesday said that Imran Khan is "forcefully" taking resignations from Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Members of the National Assembly.

Sadiq claimed the PTI members were pressurised into signing cyclostyle documents, which included their names and constituency, reported Geo News.

"It is clearly stated in the rules that a lawmaker's resignation should be handwritten."

Moving on, he said he had personal issues with the PTI chairman as he had beaten him two times in elections. Sadiq added that after Khan had challenged his election in 2015, he had won and retained the seat in the by-election, reported Geo News.

"...and the no-confidence motion against Khan was also completed through me," the ex-speaker, who chaired the session for the voting on the no-confidence motion, said.

The PTI on the day Shehbaz Sharif was elected as the prime minister had boycotted the session and announced to resign from the lower house of the parliament en mass, with the party's vice chairman, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, saying they would not accept the "installed government", reported Geo News.

But in a press conference alongside Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl(JUI-F) leaders, the former speaker said Khan was forcefully asking lawmakers to resign and submitting their resignations to Deputy Speaker Qasim Suri.

"In line with the law, every member should appear in person and submit their resignation to the speaker [...] there are some conditions and questions that are noted before the acceptance of the resignation," the MNA said.

Meanwhile, PPP Senator Sherry Rehman said the deputy speaker was pressurising the National Assembly secretariat on the issue of the resignations, reported Geo News.

"The deputy speaker is violating the laws [...] Suri had said that he identified the members based on their signatures, but according to the rules, every member should be present in person for submitting their resignations," Rehman said.

The PPP senator said several PTI lawmakers were contacting the Opposition parties to express their reservations over Imran Khan's policy of taking resignations forcefully.

Lashing out at the PTI for not following the Supreme Court and the Islamabad High Court's orders, Rehman urged the Election Commission Pakistan (ECP) to take notice of the party's action, reported Geo News.

"This politics of burning property down and dividing will not work anymore," she added.

( With inputs from ANI )