LAHORE:
Opposition legislators in the Punjab Assembly organized a vociferous protest outside the provincial legislature after four of its members were withdrawn from the presidency of the Permanent Committee through movements without confidence.
The four MPA of the opposition: Ansar IQBAL (under suspension), who was president of the Permanent Committee of Literacy and Basic Basic Education; Rai Muhammad Murtaza Iqbal (under suspension), President of the Permanent Committee of Professional Administration and Development; Saima Kanwal (under suspension), president of the Permanent Committee of Special Education and Muhammad Ahsan Ali, president of the Permanent Committee of Colonies, were officially eliminated from their positions.
The Punjab Assembly adopted the respective motions for its dismissal.
The decisions were ended during the meetings of the respective permanent committees held on Monday, where the motions for elimination were discussed and voted.
When the procedures began in the house, the Treasury legislators welcomed the removals, applauding the measure as a necessary corrective. Government legislators framed action as a step towards the reinforcement of parliamentary decorum and braking the disrespectful and disruptive behavior of the opposition.
PML-N MPA Amjad Ali Javed said that the president of the Punjab Assembly, Malik Muhammad Ahmad Khan, had done everything possible to accommodate the opposition, despite the repeated provocations. “The speaker has confirmed the democratic traditions in the camera … traditions that had been losing for a long time,” he said.
Outside the assembly building, the opposition leader, Malik Ahmad Khan Bhachar, condemned the layoffs and said that the Chamber did not agree with the law but for the whim of a single family.
He questioned the justification behind suspend only 26 MPa for his protest during the speech of Prime Minister Maryam Nawaz. “Why 26? We all protested. We should all have been suspended,” he said.
Bhachacha declared that the opposition would not remain silent and promised to raise his voice in each forum available against what he called “this injustice.”
He also questioned the neutrality of the speaker, accusing him of directing the house in a partisan way, in violation of the established rules.
The opposition legislators gathered outside the assembly building, sing slogans against the Government led by PML-N and denouncing what they described as anti-democratic conduct.
