National Assembly Speaker Raja Pervez Ashraf on Friday accepted resignations of 35 lawmakers of the Pakistan Tehreek-e- Insaf (PTI) as Imran Khan-led party plans return to the assembly to put Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to test through no-confidence vote bid.The development comes a day after the speaker defended his previous move of accepting the resignation of 34 PTI MNAs and Awami Muslim League (AML) chief Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, saying he approved the resignation of lawmakers who provided valid reasons for quitting the assembly.

The PTI MNA and allies submitted their resignations in April last after Imran Khan was ousted as prime minister through a no-trust vote. Resignations of Maleeka Ali Bokhari, Andaleeb Abbas, Makhdoom Khusro Bakhtiar, Syed Fakhr Imam and others have been accepted. The move came forward amid threats from the PTI to return to parliament only to foil a vote of confidence, which the party hoped President Dr Arif Alvi would seek from Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. Earlier, NA speaker on Tuesday suddenly accepted long-awaited resignations of PTI members. The previous phase of approved resignations included names of Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Asad Umar, Shafqat Mahmood, Sheikh Rashid Ahmed and others.

Credit : Independent News Pakistan-INP