The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf on Monday decided to resign from the National Assembly, minutes before the election for the new prime minister is scheduled to place.
The decision was taken in a party's parliamentary meeting, which was chaired by PTI Chairman Imran Khan, at the Parliament House today afternoon, reports Dwan.
"The parliamentary party has decided to resign from the assemblies against the imported government," PTI Central Information Secretary Farrukh Habib confirmed in a tweet.
Immediately after the announcement, Murad Saeed tendered his resignation as member of the NA — the first from the party.
Read: Pakistani lawmakers to elect new PM after Imran Khan ouster
Speaking to DawnNewsTV shortly afterwards, he confirmed that he made the decision in line with the party's narrative. He reiterated the former prime minister's claims of a foreign conspiracy, stating that sitting in the NA after these revelations would be akin to be being a part of this plot.
"Should foreign powers have the right to make or break governments in Pakistan?" he asked.
Saeed also highlighted the charges against the opposition's candidate for prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif. "They were and are corrupt," he added.
Former maritime affairs minister Ali Haider Zaidi also followed suit, announcing his resignation on Twitter. He said he had submitted his resignation to the party chairman.
"No way we should legitimise this foreign-funded regime change in Pakistan. The battle for the sovereignty of Pakistan will now be decided on the streets by the people, not the these looters," he said.
Former minister for Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit-Baltistan Ali Amin Gandapur also shared a photo of his resignation on the party's letterhead.
"I am proud to be a follower of Imran Khan and will fight till my death for the freedom of Pakistan and parliament," he said.
PTI leaders Shireen Mazari, Hammad Azhar, and Shafaqt Mahmood shared their resignations on Twitter too.
Yesterday, PTI leader Fawad Chaudhry had said that the decision to resign was tied to the acceptance of PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif's nomination papers for prime minister's elections, to which the PTI had raised objections.
He said it was a "great injustice" that Shehbaz would be contesting the election for the prime minister on the same day he is to be indicted in a money laundering case.
Read: Pakistan's PM vows to fight on after Parliament ousts him
"What can be more insulting for Pakistan that a foreign selected and foreign imported government is imposed on it and a person like Shehbaz is made its head," he rued.
It is pertinent to mention that a special court (Central-I) of the Federal Investigation Agency was to indict Shehbaz and his son, Hamza, in a Rs14 billion money laundering case today but the court deferred the indictment.