Punjab Assembly opposition members likely to get 'de-seated'

LAHORE: The Punjab Assembly has initiated legal proceedings to potentially de-seat 26 suspended opposition members, following their disruptive conduct during recent sessions, ARY News reported citing sources.

According to sources, the Speaker’s Office and the Provincial Law Ministry have engaged in detailed consultations to finalize the process.

Sources revealed that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) members’ membership can be terminated for violating the parliamentary leader’s decisions, citing a precedent set by former Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial’s ruling against Hamza Shehbaz.

Speaker Malik Muhammad Ahmad Khan stated that such decisions have historical precedence and confirmed that his office is reviewing Bandial’s ruling for guidance.

A reference against the suspended lawmakers is likely to be sent to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) after Ashura.

Also read: Punjab Assembly Speaker suspends 26 opposition members

It is worth mentioning here that Speaker Punjab Assembly suspended 26 opposition members of Punjab Assembly over “causing disturbance during the assembly proceedings”.

Speaker Malik Muhammad Ahmad Khan notified suspension of 26 lawmakers for the next 15 sittings owing to violation of decorum of the assembly.

The members suspended by the speaker included Malik Fahad Masood, Muhammad Tanvir Aslam, Syed Riffat Mehmood, Yasir Mehmood Qureshi, Kalimullah Khan, Muhammad Ansar Iqbal, Ali Asif, Zulfiqar Ali, Ahmed Mujtaba Chaudhry, Shahid Javed, Muhammad Ismail, Khayal Ahmed, Shehbaz Ahmed, Tayyab Rashid, Imtiaz Mehmood, Ali Imtiaz, Rashid Tufail, Murtaza Iqbal, Khalid Zubair, Ijaz Shafi, Saima Kanwal, Muhammad Naeem, Sajjad Ahmed, Rana Aurangzeb, Shoaib Mir and Usama Asghar Ali Gujjar.

“It is our democratic right to protest,” PTI MPA Mian Ijaz Shafi, one of the suspended legislators, has said.

“We have been suspended on the direction of Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz,” Ijaz Shafi claimed. “We won’t be silenced at any cost,” PTI MPA said.