LAHORE:
Leaders of the Unification Bloc in the Punjab Assembly announced on Friday that none of its bloc members will accept a place in the Punjab cabinet.
Further following a meeting of the bloc at the Punjab Assembly, three members resigned from their positions as political assistants to the chief minister and 11 from standing committee chairpersons.
The members also announced their decision to surrender all government privileges to highlight their “disregard of power” and selflessness of their support for the PML-N government in the Punjab.
Dr Tahir Ali Javed, the group’s ‘parliamentary leader’, presided over the meeting, with 27 out of the 46 members attending. Dr Javed had invited all the 81 members elected on the PML-Q ticket.
Dr Javed said that a unanimous resolution was adopted in the meeting to express absolute support to the PML-N. Besides giving up public offices and privileges, he said, the members demanded that Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and Chaudhry Perviaz Elahi resign from their PML offices as they had lost support of majorities of parliamentarians in all provinces. He said the biggest hurdle to the unification of PML-N and PML-Q could be removed, if the Chaudhry brothers resigned.
The members also decided not to serve any show cause notice to the members siding with Chaudhry Zaheeruddin Khan, the former opposition leader. The decision was prompted by the members’ wish to avoid taking matter of parliamentary leader of the house to court, sources said.
Members of the Unification Bloc have been advised by some PML-N leaders to wait till October 2011, when the party plans to demand fresh elections. Those who resigned as political assistants of the PML (Unification Bloc) are Chaudhry Muhammad Arshad Jutt, Dr Malik Mukhtar Ahmed Bharath and Saba Sadiq.
Raja Shaukat Aziz Bhatti (Environmental Protection Department), Rai Ejaz Hussain (Management and Professional Training), Malik Aitbar Khan (Livestock and Dairy Development), Chaudhry Nadeem Abbas Rabira (Communication and Works), Muhammad Saqlain Anwar Sipra (Wildlife), Makhdoom Syed Iftikhar Hussain Gillani (Services and General Administration), Mehdi Abbas Khan (Transport), Amir Yar Hiraj (Food), Pir Wilayat Shah Khaga (Agriculture), Pir Kashif Ali Chishti (Non-formal Education) and Sheikh Allauddin (Punjab Land Development Committee) resigned as standing committee chairpersons.
Sirdar Zulfiqar Ali Khan Khosa, the senior adviser to chief minister and the provincial finance minister, in a statement later on Friday, said that the PML-N leadership wanted the members of the Unification Bloc and the PML-N to share the official responsibilities. He also commended the bloc’s decision of their support to the PML-N.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 5th, 2011.
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