Lahore:
Opposition legislators in the Punjab assembly staged a loud protest outside the provincial legislator on Monday after four of their members were removed from Presidencies of Standing Committee through movements without confidence.
The four opposition MPAs-Ansar Iqbal (under Suspension), chairman of the Standing Committee for Literacy and Non-Formal Basic Education; Rai Muhammad Murtaza Iqbal (under Suspension), President of the Standing Committee on Management and Professional Development; Saima Kanwal (under Suspension), chairman of the Standing Committee on Special Education and Muhammad Ahsan Ali, chairman of the Standing Committee for Colonies – was officially removed from their positions.
The Punjab Assembly adopted the respective movements for their exhaust.
The decisions were completed during meetings of the respective standing committees held on Monday, where the decisions for removal were discussed and voted on.
When the procedure began in parliament, the Treasury welcomed the lawmakers to removal and welcome the speed as a necessary corrective. Government legislators framed the action as a step toward reinforcing parliamentary decorum and limiting the opposition’s disrespectful and disturbing behavior.
PML-n MPA Amjad Ali Javed said that Punjab assembly speaker Malik Muhammad Ahmad Khan had gone out of his way of accommodating the opposition despite repeated provocations. “The speaker has maintained democratic traditions in the house … Traditions that had long been missed,” he said.
Outside of the assembly building, opposition leader Malik Ahmad Khan Bhachar condemned the redundancies and said that the house was not run in accordance with the law, but by the incident of a single family.
He questioned the rationale behind suspending only 26 MPAs over their protest under Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz’s speech. “Why only 26? We all protested. We should all have been suspended,” he said.
Bhachar stated that the opposition would not remain silent and promised to raise their vote on any available forum against what he called “this injustice”.
He also raised doubts about the speaker’s neutrality and accused him of driving the house in a partial way in violation of established rules.
Opposition legislators gathered outside the assembly building and sang slogans against the PML-N-led government and decryed what they described as undemocratic behavior.
