Defection: 9 Unification MPAs referred to speaker

PML-Q parliamentary leader in Punjab Assembly files defection declarations against 9 members of Unification Bloc.

LAHORE:

Pakistan Muslim League’s (PML-Q) parliamentary leader in the Punjab Assembly, Chaudhry Zaheerud Din, on Thursday filed defection declarations against nine members of the 47-member Unification Bloc with the speaker.

Zaheer, in a statement to the press, also demanded that Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, who he said had lost majority in the House after removing PPP from the coalition, should seek a fresh vote of confidence.

Zaheer told reporters that he had filed the reference after the Unification Bloc members refused to reply to the show cause notices he had served them with.

“The nine members against whom I have filed the reference are the main culprits, who violated party discipline and announced support for PML-N,” he said. The nine members against whom the reference has been filed include Dr Tahir Ali Javed, Mian Ata Muhammad Maneka, Tariq Mehmood, Chaudhry Arshad Jutt, Naseem Lodhi, Saba Sadiq, Furhana Afzal and Ayesha Javed. “I have adopted the legal way against the defectors,” he told reporters.

According to the sub article 3 of Article 63 A of the constitution, after the 18th amendment, the speaker on receiving the declaration has to refer it to chief election commissioner (CEC). If he fails to do so he is deemed to have referred the declaration to the CEC for a decision. However, the Punjab government says that this interpretation of Article 63 comes into effect after the next general elections. In his press conference, Chaudhry Zaheerud Din, said that the Sharifs after ‘killing’ the Charter of Democracy were now violating the constitution. He warned the Punjab government that the PML-Q would move the court against the stay order “on which the government is still functioning”.

He added that in resigning from the seat of the opposition leader he had followed in the foot steps of Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi. “He vacated the slot in the National Assembly after PML-N left the coalition. I did so because I also realise that it is the PPP’s right because they are the majority group in opposition now,” Zaheer said.

When asked whether he would attend the Unification Bloc meeting called by Dr Tahir Ali Javed, he said, “The Unification Bloc cannot call any meetings. I am the only PML-Q parliamentary leader.”

Unification Bloc leader Dr Tahir Ali Javed said  “Whatever complaints they have, we can discuss them in the meeting rather than discuss them in the media,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 4^th, 2011.