No-confidence motion against Speaker Punjab Pervaiz Elahi dismissed, PML-N submits fresh no-confidence motion against him
LAHORE ( Web News )
The no-confidence motion against Punjab Assembly Speaker Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi was dismissed on Sunday after PML-N MPA Chadurhy Sami Ullah Khan, who was one of the movers of the no-trust motion against Elahi, failed to show up.
As the result, the much-anticipated session of the assembly has been postponed till June 6.
The session — with the Panel of Chairmen Mian Shafi Muhammad in the chair — was adjourned within six minutes despite it starting after a delay of two hours. As the assembly’s proceedings started, the speaker called out the name of PML-N MPA Sami Ullah Khan, who had filed the no-trust motion against Pervaiz Elahi, but he was not present in the House.
Due to his absence from the House, Mian Shafi Muhammad disposed of the motion and deferred the session.
Before the session, the MPAs reached the PA to attend the meeting previously scheduled to begin at 12:30 PM. However, the session couldn’t be started on time as the lawmakers were stopped from entering the premises.
Security had been tightened around the Assembly in Lahore on Sunday morning. PA Speaker Pervaiz Elahi called the session on Sunday while cancelling the previous date of the assembly session scheduled for May 30.
The political situation intensified Sunday morning with the arrest of the PA Director-General for Parliamentary Affairs Rai Mumtaz after the announcement of an emergency session. The police were directed to stay on high alert and a heavy police force was deputed in the surroundings of the provincial assembly.
Police also barricaded different spots on Lahore’s Mall Road, including the routes leading from CM House and Aiwan-e-Iqbal to the PA.
Earlier, the administration had closed the doors of the PA, while barbed wires were placed in front of the assembly building. Punjab Assembly staff said that even they are not allowed to enter the building.
Due to strict arrangements, even the security team of Punjab Chief Minister Muhammad Hamza Shahbaz Sharif wasn’t allowed to enter the Assembly. Meanwhile, PML-N decided to send only 15 to 20 MPAs inside the PA in the first phase as soon as the gates opened.
Earlier, the security team of Punjab Chief Minister Hamza Shehbaz was barred from entering the House. Meanwhile, PML-N leader Ataullah Tarar said that MPAs and media were not allowed to enter the provincial assembly.
“Speaker Pervaiz Elahi has brought goons from Gujrat,” he claimed, adding that “some people” were brought to the House yesterday night.
“You [Pervaiz Elahi] are disrespecting the House,” the PML-N leader added. He said they would enter the assembly accompanied by media persons.
He maintained that the government had submitted a no-confidence motion against the speaker as per the Constitution and vowed to challenge the speaker’s “illegal actions” in court.
Responding to a question, the PML-N leader said that the ECP has not de-notified the 25 defiant lawmakers of the House so far.
Later on the PML-N has again submitted the no-confidence motion against Pervaiz Elahi on Sunday.
Pakistan Muslim League–Nawaz (PML-N) leader and Punjab Assembly Member Rana Mashood Ahmed Khan has said that the no-trust motion against Speaker Punjab Assembly has been re-submitted.
Talking to the presser in Lahore, Rana Mashood said that PML-N and allies will not allow Pervaiz Elahi to play with the constitution and conspiratorial elements do not want stability in Pakistan.
He further said that it has always been a parliamentary tradition that the first meeting of the Business Advisory Committee is hold but they did not hold the session which was a dishonest step. Pervaiz Elahi has lost his constitutional legitimacy, Rana Said.
Rana Mashhood also said that Punjab CM along with his cabinet will also take oath in few days.
Ahead of the session, the day was not short on drama, as an assembly official was taken into police custody, according to a spokesperson for the Punjab Assembly.
The spokesperson confirmed reports of the arrest of Parliamentary Affairs Director General Rai Mumtaz. In a statement, the spokesperson claimed that police officials entered Mumtaz’s home after scaling the walls.
He alleged that police officials also conducted a raid at the home of Punjab Assembly Secretary Muhammad Khan Bhatti and Secretary Coordination Inayatullah Lak, but were unable to arrest the two.
Speaker Elahi condemned the police action and claimed that it was being carried out on the orders of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. He also termed the government’s actions “fascist”.
“After violating the sanctity of the House, the government is making use of new tactics,” he said, adding that the action against officials of the Punjab Assembly was proof that the government was “panicking”.
“The unconstitutional and fake government is taking steps against the Constitution and law,” he stated, adding that the “true face” of the Sharifs had been unmasked before the people.
Later in the day, it emerged that a case had been registered against the three Punjab Assembly officials at the Shahdara police station on the complaint of MPA Ashraf Rasool.
The FIR was registered under Sections 452 (trespassing), 506-B (punishment for criminal intimidation), 148 (rioting, armed with deadly weapon) and 149 (unlawful assembly) of the Pakistan Penal Code.
Rasool alleged that five men came to his home at 10am on May 21. When he went outside, he discovered three of the armed men were the assembly officials, adding that all five of the suspects forcibly entered his residence.
“Muhammad Khan Bhatti, Inayatullah and Rai Mumtaz pointed their pistols at me,” he said, adding that the Punjab Assembly secretary asked to leave him alone. The MPA quoted the secretary as saying that he would kill the lawmaker if he did not stop “opposing him”.
“He also asked the other four men to threaten me with dire consequences,” he said, adding that this was an attempt to deter him from fulfilling his parliamentary duty.
The complainant alleged that as the Punjab Assembly secretary, Bhatti had favoured people from his hometown of Mandi Bahauddin when making appointments. The lawmaker said that he had taken up the issue in the Punjab Assembly.
Separately, in a statement, Bhatti said that the provincial assembly was a democratic institution and its officers were attacked in the “dark of the night”.
He claimed that during the raid at his residence, officials made away with jewellery, a mobile phone, a laptop and an LCD TV. He alleged that the family of the coordination secretary was also harassed, in addition to items being stolen.
Bhatti said that the arrest of a senior bureaucrat like Rai Mumtaz had made a mockery of the law. He also said that he would register a case against the police officials for stealing items from their homes.