LHC suspends ECP de-notification of 70 PTI MPs

The Lahore High Court (LHC) has granted relief to the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) by suspending the order of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) that denotified 70 lawmakers of the former ruling party who resigned en masse last year.

Justice Shahid Karim issued notices to the tribunal and National Assembly Speaker Raja Pervez Ashraf, among others, directing them to respond to the ruling by March 7.

The future of the by-elections in the constituencies, which were represented by the de-notified MPs and originally scheduled to take place on March 16 and 19 in two phases, now hangs in the balance due to the latest development. More than 120 MPs loyal to former prime minister Imran Khan resigned en masse on April 11, two days after he was ousted in a contentious vote of noconfidence marred by unprobed allegations of military intervention.

Qasim Khan Suri, then deputy speaker of the National Assembly who was acting as speaker after Asad Qaiser’s resignation, accepted the resignation letters on April 15. However, once Ashraf was elected as the speaker, he decided to verify the resignations by interviewing lawmakers individually, but instead decided in favour of stalling the entire process by blaming it on the lawmakers’ reluctance to step down.

Such situations require a lot of thought process, he had said, declaring he will not accept the letters until he was completely satisfied they were not stepping down under pressure.

However, after Khan hinted at “testing” the prime minister, Shahbaz Sharif, through a confidence vote in a tit-for-tat move similar to the one he himself had faced, Ashraf hastily accepted the resignations and sent the list to the commission.

The ruling came after a plea was filed by lawmakers challenging the approval of their resignations.

On February 8, the LHC suspended a similar order by the commission regarding a group of 43 MPs.

The judgement on Monday has resulted in PTI emerging as the largest opposition party in the lower house, prompting Fawad Chaudhry, senior vice

LAHore staff RepoRt president of the opposition party, to “immediately” begin the process to replace “turncoat” opposition leader Raja Riaz Ahmed.

A speeding passenger bus crashed off a motorway and overturned near Kallar Kahar town of Chakwal district in Punjab, killing at least 14 passengers and injuring 63 others, police and government officials said Monday. The crash happened overnight, deputy commissioner of Chakwal, Qurat-ul-Ain Malik, said. In a statement to the press, the official said the incident occurred when the vehicle transporting a wedding party was navigating a curved section of the Islamabad-Lahore (M2) motorway and experienced a brake failure. As a result, the bus collided with two cars traveling in the opposite direction. Malik confirmed that six passengers sustained critical wounds and were promptly transported to Holy Family Hospital in Rawalpindi. The exact extent of their injuries is currently unknown. The authorities are investigating the incident. Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif in a statement expressed his deep grief and sorrow over the loss of lives in the crash and ordered authorities to provide the best possible medical treatment to the injured. Last month, a passenger bus crashed into a pillar and fell off a bridge, catching fire and killing 40 people in the Lasbela district of Balochistan. Traffic accidents in Pakistan generally happen due to violations of traffic rules, resulting in the deaths of thousands every year.