Imran’s party to quit Pak National Assembly Monday

Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) has decided to resign from the National Assembly if opposition leader Shehbaz Sharif's nomination papers for prime minister's elections are accepted.

The announcement came Sunday (10 April), a day after former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan lost his government via a no-confidence motion in the National Assembly.

Speaking to the media in Islamabad with a host of other PTI leaders and officials, Senior PTI leader and former information minister Fawad Chaudhry said a meeting of the PTI's central core executive committee (CEC) was held in Bani Gala with Imran Khan where the whole situation was analysed, reports The Dawn.

"If our objections on Shehbaz Sharif's [nomination] papers are not addressed, then we will resign tomorrow," Fawad Chaudhry said.

He said it was a "great injustice" that Shehbaz would be contesting the election for the prime minister on the same day he was to be indicted in a money laundering case.

He bemoaned the imposition of a foreign-selected and imported government on Pakistan, and the appointment of someone like Shehbaz as its leader.

It is pertinent to mention that a special court (Central-I) of the Federal Investigation Agency is likely to indict Shehbaz and son Hamza in Rs14 billion money laundering case on Monday.

Shehbaz was arrested by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on 28 September 2020 after the Lahore High Court rejected his bail plea in the money laundering case.

The Awami Muslim League chief, Sheikh Rashid, a key ally of the PTI, who spoke before Fawad, was more direct in the resignation announcement.

"It has been decided that we can't be involved with these thieves and dacoits in the assembly. Everyone decided with a unanimous consensus that we are going to resign en masse from the NA," he said. "All members will resign."