Pervez Ashraf says he has no knowledge of LHC order. ISLAMABAD - National Assembly Speaker Raja Pervez Ashraf on Thursday once again scuttled the plan of PTI MNAs, for the time being, to return to the Parliament House and join lower house proceedings only a day after the high court suspended de-seating notification of 43 lawmakers. As the reinstated members of National Assembly of the PTI gathered in the chamber of Leader of the Opposition in the Senate Dr Shahazad Waseem at the Parliament House to attend the house sitting, the speaker in a video message said that NA Secretariat had yet not received the Lahore High Court (LHC)’s order. The speaker said that he would take a final decision about the return of PTI MNAs in the National Assembly once the Secretariat receives the court order. PTI lawmakers now plan to participate in the joint sitting of the parliament that has been scheduled to be held on February 13 (Monday) as the speaker prorogued the NA on Thursday.
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A day earlier, LHC suspended the order of the speaker that had accepted the resignations of 43 PTI MNAs as well as the subsequent notification of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) which de-seated them from the membership of the Parliament. Soon after the court order, the major opposition party demanded the office of leader of the opposition in the NA by replacing the incumbent Raja Riaz Ahmed, who is a dissident lawmaker of PTI. The speaker in his video message said that he had no knowledge of the LHC order. “The order is not before us, neither we could read it nor get any details of it.” He said that they just came to know through a TV report that his office has been made a party to the case but did not receive the notice yet. He said that his office would read the order after receiving it and would decide the way forward after consulting the legal experts.
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He said that the government was only made a “party” in the case, which he claimed they “heard on television and have not received the notice”. Raja said they will consult lawyers and experts after receiving the order. PTI MNAs Sajida Begum, Rai Murtaza Iqbal, Nusrat Wahid, Shanila Ruth, Asma Hamid, Ghazals Saifi and Jai Parkash tried to hold meeting with Speaker National Assembly, but they could not. Talking to reporters outside the NA Secretariat, the opposition leader PTI Senator Waseem said that the speaker was bound to respect court’s orders. He said that the court has clearly said that the speaker’s decision to accept the resignations was illegal. He added that PTI lawmakers would attend the NA sitting today. He added that the PTI would have its own opposition leader soon. PTI lawmakers had resigned en masse from NA in April last year to protest against the unceremonious ouster of former prime minister Imran Khan. On January 24, 43 PTI MNAs had written to the NA speaker withdrawing their resignations. However, the NA Secretariat said that the speaker had already accepted the resignations. Subsequently, the ECP de-notified these lawmakers on January 25.
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