Won't sit with "thieves": Imran Khan resigns from Pak National Assembly

Islamabad: Former Prime Minister Imran Khan decided to tender his resignation as a member of the National Assembly ahead of the election for the new prime minister of Pakistan. This development comes after Imran Khan said that he will not sit in the assemblies with 'thieves'.

"A man who has one corruption case of 16 billion rupees and another corruption case of 8 billion rupees against him...for that person to be selected and elected as the Prime Minister, there can not be a bigger insult to the country. We are resigning from the National Assembly," Imran Khan was quoted as saying by PTI's official Twitter account.

Confirming the decision, Pakistan's former Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed said that sitting in the assembly would strengthen the Leader of the Opposition Shehbaz Sharif and therefore it has been decided to submit their resignation from the National Assembly.

"Imran Khan supported my suggestion during the parliamentary party meeting," he said and added that Khan would visit Peshawar on Wednesday.

"Imran Khan will give a call to people every Sunday to come out against the foreign conspiracy," Rasheed said.

PTI Member of National Assembly (MNA) Murad Saeed was the first member of the party who submitted his resignation to the Speaker of the National Assembly, as per ARY News.

Earlier in the day, the PTI held a parliamentary party meeting at the Parliament House in Islamabad, reported Radio Pakistan. The meeting was chaired by Imran Khan.

The Pakistani Parliament is going to elect the country's new Prime Minister today after Khan was ousted after a no-confidence vote in the National Assembly.

The voting on the no-confidence motion against the Imran Khan-led Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government was held in the country's National Assembly late on Saturday night, with 174 members recording their votes in favour of the motion that ousted the Imran Khan government.