Restoration of seat: Shumaila Rana told to submit ‘facts’ by 8th

LAHORE:

The Lahore High Court on Monday asked former PML-N MPA Shumaila Rana to file a brief fact sheet till March 29 in her petition for restoration of her Punjab Assembly seat.

Justice Umar Ata Bandial passed the order while hearing Rana’s petition against her disqualification from the provincial assembly. She had named the Punjab Assembly speaker and several PML-N leaders as respondents in the petition.

She had alleged that a false case was registered against her on July 12, 2009 when she was an MPA.

After registration of the FIR, she said, she and her family were threatened by some of the PML-N members who forced her to resign from the seat.

She said that the PML-N members pressured her to submit her resignation. She said due to immense pressure, she signed it on July 24, 2009. She said the letter was submitted to the Punjab Assembly speaker who forwarded it to the Punjab Assembly secretary.

She said that a trial court had acquitted her on March 1, 2010.

She contended that the speaker and the secretary violated Rule 35 of the assembly procedure, whereby, she said, it was the duty of the speaker to inquire about the resignation before accepting it. She said no such inquiry was ordered. She requested the court to set aside the impugned notification and restore her membership.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 6^th, 2012.