Assassination bid: MPA accuses law minister of planning attack

PML-N lawmaker says Rana Sanaullah has links with gunmen who attacked him

LAHORE: While Monday’s session of the Punjab Assembly lasted a little less than an hour owing to a lack of quorum, it was anything but sweet as PML-N’s Tahir Pervaz took to the floor to accuse the Punjab law minister of having links with the gunmen who recently attacked him.

Narrating the incident, the legislator from Faisalabad claimed the CCTV footage showed the attackers had been surveying the area close to his home for several days.

“Who are these people who are above the law?” he inquired while addressing to an absent chief minister. No action has been taken despite the passage of 15 days and a call attention notice being submitted in the assembly.

The chair informed Pervaz that his notice would be answered by the law minister, who was absent during the session.

The PML-N legislator alleged the attacker involved in a previous attack on him had ties with Rana Sanaullah. Pervaz’s tirade was cut short by the chair who insisted that the issue be taken up in the presence of the law minister.

With hundreds of students staging protests over the faulty marking of Intermediate papers, the issue also made its way into the Punjab Assembly, where MPA Azma Bukhari questioned the rules under which the education board was operating.

Bukhari’s out-of-turn adjournment motion was kept in pending till next week on which she lashed out at the chair demanding the issue required immediate attention.

The session which started with an initial attendance of 17 lawmakers failed to complete the government business as it ended with less than 80 lawmakers.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 18^th, 2016.