Senate chairman restores Nehal Hashmi's membership

ISLAMABAD: Senate Chairman Mian Raza Rabbani allowed Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) Senator Nehal Hashmi to withdraw his resignation from the upper house of the parliament, ARY News reported on Wednesday.

The Senate chairman in his ruling said Nehal Hashmi had tendered his resignation from the Senate on June 01. When he was summoned to verify as to whether he had tendered his resignation out of his own freewill, he replied that he had resigned under duress and wanted to take back his resignation.

Hashmi had approached the senate chairman on Tuesday (yesterday), requesting him not to accept his resignation.

He had resigned following his outburst against the judiciary and the members of the JIT probing the Sharif family on allegations stemming from the Panama Papers.

The PML-N leadership had suspended his party membership and asked him to resign from the upper house.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had also expressed immense displeasure over his threatening speech and disassociated himself from it and sought an explanation from him.

Hashmi had been booked on criminal charges for his hostile attitude and open threats to esteemed members of the judiciary and national institutions.

Whereas, the Supreme Court had taken notice of his outburst seeking a written explanation from him  for his slanderous rant during a PML-N worker’s event on Yaum-e-Takbeer.

In a video, the PML-N leader was seen warning the judges and those probing the Panama Papers allegations of dire consequences if they continued with the accountability of PM Sharif and his family.

His speech hit the headlines and elicited strong criticism and disapproval from political quarters.