Islamabad, April 14 : Pakistan Deputy Speaker of National Assembly Qasim Suri on Thursday accepted the resignations of 123 MNAs belonging to the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI). After the ouster of PTI Chairman Imran Khan from the office of the Prime Minister, through a no-confidence motion, the leaders decided to disassociate themselves from the National Assembly. Khan, after being removed from the PM’s post, had urged his MNAs to tender their resignations and told them to refuse accepting newly-elected Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. Appreciating the MNAs for tendering resignation, Imran in a Twitter post said, “Want to appreciate our 123 MNAs as their resignations have been accepted by Speaker Qasim Suri. Their standing firm for a sovereign Pak & against US-initiated regime change bringing to power criminals, convicted & on bail — the ultimate insult to any self-respecting indep[endent] nation.” During the run-up to the no-confidence motion, Imran had consistently alleged a ‘foreign conspiracy,’ involving US, to derail him from the Prime Minister’s post. In all, PTI has 155 members in the 272-member House. Of them, 20 are dissidents, who have been served notices by the party. The decision of the remaining 12 lawmakers remains unclear. MYK RJ