Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has issued a strict directive for all its workers and officials to fully comply with the party’s decision to boycott the Punjab by-elections, instructing all candidates to immediately withdraw their nomination papers, The News reported on Saturday.
In a statement released by the PTI’s Central Media Department, the party emphatically restated that it would completely boycott the Punjab by-elections, following the instructions of PTI founder Imran Khan, and would not participate in the electoral process under any circumstances.
The party’s Political Committee had previously decided in a recent meeting to field a candidate for the NA-129 constituency in Lahore, which became vacant after the death of veteran politician Mian Muhammad Azhar; his son Hammad Azhar had already announced he would not be running for the NA seat due to personal reasons.
The statement also emphasized that all candidates must immediately withdraw their nomination papers, amidst reports of some individuals having submitted papers under the name of PTI. The party instructed all such candidates to withdraw their papers without delay, as the party’s political committee had already announced a complete boycott of the upcoming by-elections in Punjab.
The statement clarified that PTI completely distances itself from any individual filing nomination papers under the party’s name. It reaffirmed that the PTI will remain steadfast in its political and public struggle and will not take part in the Punjab by-elections under any circumstances.
Meanwhile, as part of the former ruling party’s decision to resign from parliamentary standing committees on Khan’s orders, PTI’s Junaid Akbar has also submitted his resignation as chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) and as a member of the Standing Committee on Energy to National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq.
In his resignation letter, received by the speaker, he stated, “I write to tender my resignation from the position of Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), as well as from the Standing Committee on Energy (Power Division), with a sense of fulfillment and responsibility.”
Earlier, MNAs Ali Asghar, Sajid Khan, Shahid Khattak, Faisal Amin Khan, and Asif Khan have all resigned from various National Assembly committees. Asghar stepped down from the Cabinet, Privatisation, and Planning committees, while Sajid Khan resigned from the Overseas, National Heritage, and Kashmir-related committees, stating that he would even vacate his assembly seat if instructed by Khan.
Faisal, the brother of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur, left the Economic Affairs, Food Security, and Parliamentary Task Force committees. Khattak announced his withdrawal from all standing committees, while Asif resigned from the Education, National Heritage, Culture, and Information and Broadcasting committees.
